The Haruno Chronicles
by Bobby8795
Summary: This is my first story but it gets better later on. Please do it the courtesy of reading to Ch. 4 or 5 before knocking it off or giving a review. It is not a Wierd remake of MGLN but if you don't read up to chapter 4 or 5, it will look like that. Thanks.
1. The start of a Courageous Journey

THE HARUNO Chronicles

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Before you start to read this story, just a few things. This is my first story. It is a story based off of many anime I have seen but for the most part and including some characters of character names, is based one the Magical Girl, Lyrical Nanoha story. I did invent some story elements myself and I find it to all fit nicely. I DO URGE YOU THOUGH if you want to give up on the story please do it justice and read to chapter 4 and hopefully chapter 5. You really can't tell what type of story this is if you don't because before that, it just seams like a weird version of MGLN. But if you are the impatient type, you could skip to chapter three though you will miss some story elements that you will find later in the store so I suggest reading the first two chapters first if you want a real feel of the story. Also, I did edit it a bit but the first 5 chapters will be a bit choppy, but after that, the writing becomes better.

Disclaimer: All rights for names, themes, story, character style and all else belong to their respective owners.

CHAPTER 1 – The Start of a Courageous Journey

Maral, a planet full of ruins of many ancient magical civilizations. The inhabitants of this planet sacred duty are to recover and preserve the ruins of these lost civilizations. The inhabitants are good with excavating through their magic, especially a young boy named Lance. He was 14, had brown hair and brown eyes. One day as he was helping his father look around an already discovered ruin for anything unchecked, he found a weird box like handle on a statue of the god Plarem. He showed his father who was impressed with the find. His father told him to step back in case of it being trapped. Lance did so and his father turned the knob in. As he did, a door opened above the statue and a ladder fell down.

His father climbed up and looked around for a second, then told Lance it appeared safe and he could come up. He climbed up the ladder and looks around. He saw his father touch a box. As he lifted the box up it began to glow with a green light. The box was labeled "The Saren stones." His father dropped the box and as it fell, White stones labeled in numbers 1 to 26 fell out. They formed a ring and started to float up, and then vanished after a bright blast of light and then everything went dark.

Lance woke up hours later when it was dark out and looked for his father. He found him a few feet away but he felt cold. Shock flowed over Lance as he realized what the Saren stones had done. They had sucked out his father's life in one fail swoop. "NO" lance said at the top of his voice and he started to cry. His father in his last moments of life wrote a note that lance found on his chest.

It was written in magic as Lance's keen eyes could easily notice. He knew the only way he would be able to read it was to get to his dad's secret office and read it under his lamp, which could reveal hidden messages. The only problem was that his dad was the only one who knew where the offices secret entrance was. Lance had been in there before but he was teleported in by his dad as to not reveal the location to any wandering eyes.

He went home and tried to think of where his dad would put the entrance. His dad had told him there was just one entrance for emergency use only. "Where would my father put a secret entrance to his office" he thought to himself. It was tricky to figure out where to look first because the entrance could be anything. He searched the whole house, top to bottom but could find no secret entrance.

He went into the family room where there was a picture of his mom, dad and him as a baby. It was huge. His father use to come in and look at the masterpiece when he needed to think. Looking at it calmed him. Lances mother had died in an airport fire 5 years ago. He looked at it hoping to get the same comfort as his father had when he looked at it. He without knowing just walked over to the painting and touched his mom's hand. He was then sucked through the painting and landed in a dark room. He used some magic to create a light orb. He saw a desk and a lamp along with a bunch of filing cabinets. He could not believe it. He had found his dads office.

He rushed over to the desk and put the note from his dad in under the light. He saw the letters form on the paper and started to read. It said,

"_Dear son, if you are reading this, it means that I am dead. Do not worry, as there is more pressing matters to attend to. The Saren stones are powerful relics of a lost magical world destroyed in an inter-dimensional catastrophe. They can grant anyone's wish but if they release too much power at once, they start to go out of control and turn into pure evil. You must reseal them and return them to their rightful place. Take Nanoha with you. She will be a lot of help. You know how powerful she can be. Best of luck to you._

_Sorry about Dying on you_

_Dad" _

Lance was shocked for a second after hearing about the Saren stones power. Then a thought came to him "_what if he got one and have his wish to revive his parents granted by it._" This idea left as soon as it came into his head. If you knew about magic, you knew two things. First is that it is impossible to bring back the dead and the second was that using a magical item that had more power than the user was dangerous and even fatal and if nothing did happen to you, the powerful magic usually didn't work due to the lack of control the user had over it.

He woke up next morning hoping it was just a dream but as he walked around the house, no one was there and he knew his father never left the house until Lance woke up. He made himself breakfast quietly and afterwards and then went back to his dad's office to ponder over the message. He wasn't sure what to do. On the one hand, he had never left his own world before. But on the other hand his father had asked him to go which meant that he had complete faith in his son to go and reseal the Saren stones. He decided after had thought that he was going to fulfill his father's last wish and get the Saren stones back.

He also took his dads advice to take Nanoha along with him. He was right, she would be a load of help with this mission. She was a good friend of his; she was a nice, happy person who enjoyed life to the fullest. He went to her house after lunch to ask her of this big favor. He knew she would say yes. She said when they were 9 that if he ever went on an adventure that he were to take her along with him. He arrived at her house, which was right next door. He knocked on the door and Nanoha answered. "Hi, how are you," she said in her cheery voice as usual but then noticed that something was wrong. She hastily invited him into the living room and told him to sit on the couch. She then sat next to him and said "Okay, I can sense something is horribly wrong so are you going to tell me or what." He thought about it for a second but then realized she would need to know if she was coming along. He started to tell her everything from the second that he and his father entered the ruins. By the end she was in tears. She sobbed, "so your father is _gone_ for good and now you have to get the Saren stones back." "Yes and I was hoping-" he was cut off by Nanoha now back to normal " say no more. I don't care what you say, I going along with you. It could be dangerous and you're not much of a fighter. You know you need my strength so that's that." He knew she was right so he said that he had tracked down the Saren stones. "Where to" Nanoha said expectantly. "Well to a world classified as Non-Magic world 96. Its name is Earth. That is where I have traced the Saren stones to.

They got up early the next morning, all packed and everything and met at Lance's house. After they said their goodbyes, it was time to go so Nanoha got her device out. A device is a magical weapon that a mage uses to cast their magic more powerfully then it would be without them. It also negates the need for an incantation in most cases as well.

Nanoha's was a unique device she named RAGING HEART and it looked like a red marble. All custom devices had an intelligence of their own so a mage easily bonded with their devices after awhile. "RAGING HEART, _SET UP_," said Nanoha and t RAGING HEART activated. It magically reappeared as her trusty staff, a pink and white weapon with a gold head that looked like a G and in the middle of that head was the red marble RAGING HEART. Nanoha was also in her Barrier Jacket which consisted of a white dress with blue stripes going up the sides and matching shoes with a white and blue top finished off with a red bow in the middle and white hair ribbons. Lance did not use devices, as he was not a good fighter. He could fight a little but his main power was in defensive, healing, teleportation and transformation magic. He was extremely adept at changing into a ferret. It was his favorite thing to turn into.

As Nanoha was not good with teleportation Magic, Lance was getting the spell ready. He started to say Earths teleportation code "0845-9343-3443-5456-1324-8723-3678-1003-0698-5603" A green magic circle appeared under them with Lance in the middle (a magic circle always appears under a person when they use most magic.) Then as soon as it appeared the magic circle vanished along with Lance and Nanoha.


	2. Their First Battle

THE HARUNO Chronicles

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Like the first Chapter, this one will seem choppy and like a weird MGLN, but if you read this one and continue, you will find a different story. This is just an intro that serves as a starting point, sort of like the first scene of any good anime shows what it is about.

Disclaimer: All rights for names, themes, story, character style and all else belong to their respective owners.

Chapter 2 - Their first battle.

Lance and Nanoha appeared in a forest, apparently unnoticed by anyone. Nanoha still was on guard as they did not know much about earth, only that it was richer in life than Maral and that it was a non-magic planet or to say that magic users were extremely uncommon and in the event that one pops up, they usually never know they can use magic so they end up going through life without using or knowing about magic what-so-ever. They walked a bit until they got out of the forest and came upon a playground with children in it. They watch as the Children play and decide to take a look around but before that they realize some people were staring at them. Then they realized they must look so out of place with their clothes. They hurried back into the forest to avoid any unwanted comments.

"So what are we going to do Lance. We need to get some disguises or well be as noticeable as a white dot on black paper. I don't want to be stared at Lance." "Well," Lance started, " I guess I could use some of my transformation magic and make us some less conspicuous clothes." "Good idea, lets go with it," said Nanoha in agreement. A green Magic Circle (that is the color of Lances Magic) appeared under Lance. "You need to release you barrier jacket and Staff for this to work" Lance said. "Okay Lance, RAGING HEART please," said Nanoha, "**ALL RIGHT, MY MASTER**," said RAGING HEART and her Barrier jacket and staff disappeared and was replaced by the red marble on a necklace which Nanoha put around her neck. Lance finished the spell and their clothes changed instantly from their Maral type clothes to a brown sweatshirt and blue jeans for Lance and an orange skirt with matching top for Nanoha.

"Good, now we'll blend in with everyone else," said Nanoha. Then Lance said "I think I will be better off turning into a ferret so we don't draw as much attention." Lance then changed into a ferret instantly and climbed up onto Nanoha's shoulder. She liked this thinking it was cute looking.

They went into the city and found they were in a popular city named Tokyo. They looked around to see what the people of this world were like. They looked everywhere and learned a lot. They realized that the people of this planet were friendly and they did not seem to notice that they were from a different planet. Nanoha finally let her guard down and relaxed; she had been very tense since they had arrived. They went back to the forest where they set up a small camp shielded to human eyes by magic (compliments of Lance).

Lance and Nanoha heard it at the same time, a roaring crash from not to far away. Then they heard a scream. "Should we go see what is going on here," suggested Nanoha. "Yeah, it may be a Saren stone and if it is, we'll need to capture it fast," said Lance so they went toward where they heard all the noise. When they got there, they saw something they were never expecting what they saw. It was a monster that looked like a big blob of black. They saw the number 26 flash on its head and they both realized that this monster was the Saren stone after it turned into a pure evil monster. "I going to put up a barrier now. It will distort space and time around us so all non-magic beings in the area are removed temporarily and so no time passes when were done so no one realizes what just happened. Ready Nanoha." "Ready Lance. RAGING HEART, SET UP," said Nanoha. **"ALL RIGHT, MY MASTER**," Nanoha transformed into her Barrier Jacket and her staff appeared in front of her. Lance starts to raise his barrier as his green magic circle appears under him. "_I ask for a field of protection that shields the truth from those who cannot fathom. An unbreakable cage to trap this beast. STEEL BARRIER."_ Lances barrier formed itself around the area. As it did, all the people seemed to vanish. "Alright Nanoha, You are going to have to weaken it before you can seal it." "Got it Lance," Nanoha replied.

"**AVIAN WINGS,"** said RAGING HEART and a pair of wings appeared on Nanoha's shoes. "Aright, lets do this RAGING HEART." Nanoha then flew straight up towards the monster. She stopped in front of it and flew straight up and narrowly missed the monsters tentacle that shot out of the Blob that was its body. "Alright, ready RAGING HEART." "**READY, MY MASTER"** A pink magic circle appeared below Nanoha's feet in mid air as Nanoha was pointing and aiming her staff at the monster. "Okay; **DIVINE SHOOTER" **A small blast of pink magical energy shot out of the staff at the monster and it made contact but barely as the monster jumped out of the way quickly to avoid a direct hit.

"Okay, so you can handle my divine shooter. Then try this." "**BUSTER MODE," **said RAGING HEART. The gold head changed from the device mode to shooting mode. Now the head looked like an oval with the top gone so it had a clear shot from the red marble that was RAGING HEART. Nanoha said, "Okay ready. See if you can handle this" as magic gathered in the staff. A very large magical circle appears under Nanoha this time. "**DIVINE, BUSTER!"**. An extremely powerful ray of pink magical energy shot out of the staff. The blast of magical energy hit it straight on and did serious damage but it was not out yet. It shot out a sphere of black magical energy, which sped towards Nanoha. "**ROUND SHIELD**," said RAGING HEART and a shield that looks like a magic circle appeared from Nanoha's hand at her will to block the attack.

"Okay Nanoha," said Lance from the ground, "seal it now why its tired from its attack." "Okay Lance. RAGING HEART," said Nanoha. "**OKAY, SEALING MODE SET UP."** Then the staff changed back to device mode but then 3 giant wings appear from the top of the handle. "Okay RAGING HEART. Sealing, number 26, SHOOOOT!" A ray of magic enveloped the monster. There was a flash of light and then after the light from Nanoha's attack died down, the Monster had turned back into a Saren stone like the ones Lance saw in the ruins in Maral. It floated over and was absorbed into RAGING HEART, which then said "**NUMBER 26, SEALED." **Then a bunch of steam came from the bottom of the staff as RAGING HEART cooled down from the battle.

Lance came running to Nanoha as she landed on the ground. "Great job Nanoha, well done" said Lance as he went to greet her. "Thanks Lance, I tried my hardest to get it done quickly," said Nanoha, "I think you can release the barrier now." Lance said okay but he couldn't until Nanoha released her Barrier Jacket and her staff. Nanoha released them immediately and they turn back into the red marble that was RAGING HEART. Nanoha puts the Marble around her neck. Lance says "_Okay. Barrier, which has served its purpose and trapped our enemies. RELEASE_." The barrier disappeared and all the people who disappeared reappeared and continued as though nothing had happened.

"For now we can go back to the camp where you can rest. You look exhausted Nanoha," says Lance. "You don't look energetic yourself Lance. Maintaining a barrier that strong for that long takes a lot out of you," said Nanoha. The two leaning on each other for support head back to the campsite in the woods. When they got there, they went straight to sleep.


	3. A new Friend

THE HARUNO Chronicles

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If you did jump chapters to read this one first, I think it would be better if you read the other two chapters as well, but if you didn't, here is some help.

Lance is sort of like a more aggressive Yuuno and also changes into a ferret.

Nanoha is as she always is, though she is 14 and she has all the powers from the first, A's and Strikers series as I thought it would be cool to have them all at once.

Lee is a personal creation and becomes a main character.

This story is loosely based off of MGLN but it sort of becomes my own in a way.

Disclaimer: All rights for names, themes, story, character style and all else belong to their respective owners.

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Chapter 3 – A new Friend

Lee Cross is 14 years old. He lives in downtown Tokyo with his mom named Mary. He has a little sister, a big brother, and a father but they are all away most of the time. He goes to Great Triumph Junior High School. He's in 8th grade. Lee was walking to school when he heard someone call his name. "Hey, Lee, wait up for me would ya!" said Chrono. Chrono is one of Lee's 2 best friends. "Hey Lee. Sakura says she will meet up with us at school. She woke up early and got to school early. By the way, did you get the notice about career day? Many specialists from many fields of work are going to be at our school today so we can start thinking about what we want to do when we grow up." Lee was only half listening as he just looked at his watch and realized that they were 7 minutes away from being late for school. "Hey Chrono, we need to book it. Were going to be late if we keep going this speed. We have less than 6 minutes to get there." Lee and Chrono started to run towards the school.

They barely make it before their teacher entered the room. "Hey, you need to be careful. You were that close to being late," said Sakura. "Come on Sakura," said Chrono, "we can't help it if they don't put enough hours in the night to get a good nights sleep." "Well not everyone sleeps for half their life Chrono. I'm surprised you get up at all," said Sakura in retaliation. Lee was used to this bickering by now. Every morning they would continuously argue non-stop and in the afternoon they would act as if they never argued ever.

"Okay class," said their teacher, "quiet down. Today as you all know is career day. We will be going to different classrooms that have been set up each with its own career specialist and some activities and information on the career. Okay we are going to start with the engineering classroom. Follow me."

Later during an afternoon break they got after the career presentations, Lee and his friends were on the roof discussing what jobs they would want. Chrono's family owned a company so it was likely that he would succeed his parents and take over the company. Sakura had expressed an Interest in the engineering careers and even stayed behind in the engineering classroom to ask the specialist some questions. "So what career do you want when you grow up Lee," Sakura said. Lee really didn't know what he wanted to do. He felt like there was something he was meant to do with his life but it was not one of the careers shown during career day. "I don't know yet. Lets see where the wind blows me," said Lee to answer Sakura's question. "That's what you always say. You need to start thinking about it Lee," Sakura said.

After school was over, they walked together part of the way home when Chrono and Sakura split away for cram school. They said goodbye to each other and Lee continued on his way home. He didn't know why but for some reason he wanted to take the long way home so he took a left and started walking the long way to his house when he heard a scream. Then he felt a chill and closed his eyes for a second. When he opened them, there was no one around. Everyone had just vanished. He could still hear screams and other noises so he went to see what was happening. He was shocked to see what was happening. There was a girl about his age flying in mid-air fighting a giant black wolf-like creature with bright red eyes. They were reminiscent of the color of blood.

He just stood there and watched as the girl fought the monster with what looked like blasts of energy he saw in anime. It was an intense battle. Finally the girl looked like she could take no more of this and ended up getting trapped in a corner by the beast. The beast looked like he was charging up his final attack. He did not know what made him do it but just as the monster began to attack, he jumped in between the girl and the beast and shielded her as the beast fired a large black magic attack. Suddenly a glowing golden shield put itself in between Lee and the monsters attack. Lee did not know what was going on but he began to glow intensely. Then a ball of light left straight from Lee's body and formed a small blue marble and flew into his hand. Lee without knowing how shot a blast of magic from his hand at the beast and shot it back a long distance. "Hello I'm Nanoha," said Nanoha, "thank you for saving me, you must be a very powerful mage to deflect that monsters attack like that." "Hi my name is Lee. To be honest, I have no idea what you are talking about or how I just did that. I don't even know why I came to protect you. I didn't even know that I could do that," said Lee. Nanoha then said "wait, your telling me you didn't know you could use magic and you just released such a powerful defense and attack combo that most elite could not handle?" "Yeah that is pretty much it," said Lee. "Well you can use magic now so could you help me." Lee then said "But I still don't know how to use it yet." "Don't worry," said Nanoha, "just look inside yourself and you'll know what to do."

The monster was back up and Nanoha wished him good luck and went to resume the fight again. Lee thought to himself how could he just abandon her so he decided to try what she said and look within himself for the answer. Something came to him. "HARUNO" he said. As he said it, the blue marble in his hand responded, "**SAY SET UP, MY MASTER,"** said the marble. "What are you" said Lee to the marble. "**I AM HARUNO, A MAGICAL DEVICE MADE BY AND FOR YOU TO HELP YOU IN ANY WAY,"** said HARUNO. Okay, my gut is telling me to go with you so here we go. "HARUNO SET UP!" A gold magic circle appeared below Lee's feet and in a flash of light, many things happened. One he was no longer in his regular clothes but in a navy blue and silver robe and a matching blazer. Also a blue and white staff appeared before him. It had a gold head that was a circle with the blue marble in the middle.

"Whoa, what's with these clothes and this staff?" said Lee not expecting a reply. To his amazement, HARUNO said, "**THE CLOTHES ARE YOUR BARRIER JACKET AS YOUR SUBCONCIOUS INVISIONED THEM. THE STAFF IS THE SAME. IT IS YOU MAGICAL WEAPON. READY?**" "Well I can't leave that girl alone to fight that monster. Okay lets go," said Lee. Without knowing how he did it, he started to fly into the air. It was time for action. Lee flew over to the monster but didn't know what to do. "**TRY USING GLOWING SHOOTER,"** said HARUNO. Okay said Lee. He pointed his staff at the monster and then a golden circle appeared under his feet. "Okay HARUNO, lets do this," said Lee. "**GLOWING SHOOTER," **and a small blast of shinning golden energy shot straight at the monster. It hit the monster but didn't do much damage.

"HARUNO, do I have a stronger attack that I can use?" said Lee hopefully. "**LETS DO IT, SHINNING BUSTER"** said HARUNO. "Okay HARUNO, lets do it, shooting mode," said Lee. As an extra large magic circle appeared under his feet, the head of his staff became a vertical "U" shape. "Ready, HARUNO. **SHINNING, BUSTER!" **A super powerful ray of shinning gold magical energy shot straight at it and made a direct hit. The beast was down but not out. "**LETS SEAL IT, MY MASTER"** said HARUNO. "Okay HARUNO. Lets do it," said Lee. "**SEALING MODE, SET UP,**" said HARUNO. The head of the staff changed back to it device mode but this time 3 silver wings appeared out of the top of the handle. "Okay ready" Lee said hoping this would work, "Saren sealing, number 25, SEAL." A burst of magic came from HARUNO and shot a flash of light at the monster, which turned back into a Saren Stone in its original state. It floated to HARUNO and was absorbed by the blue marble. "**NUMBER 25, SEALED,"** said HARUNO. Lee was ultra relived when it was over.

"That was excellent work Lee. Good job," said Nanoha as she flew over, obviously exhausted but happy. "Not bad for your first time, not bad at all." "Well thank you. If you had told me this morning that I would defeat a giant monster, I would have thought you were crazy. Who knew I could do that." Nanoha then said, "Well not many people on this world can do what you did. It is very rare for someone on this world to be able to use magic and good at it at that. You are a natural." Lance comes running over to Nanoha and sees this new guy. "Hey I saw you battle that monster," said Lance, "that was amazing. You must be a powerful and experienced mage to do that." Lee looks at him and says, "That was actually the first time I had ever used magic. I didn't even know I had any magic until today." Lance looks at him shocked and then asked, "So than where did you get the device. It is obviously a custom device." "Well," said Lee, "It just appeared in front of me and said its name was Haruno." Lance says surprised, "Well I guess it was made subconsciously by your magic, just like Nanoha's Raging Heart." "Now I have a question for you," said Lee, "how do I go back to normal." Haruno butted in and said, "Say **MODE RELEASE, MY MASTER,"** and Lee did just that. "Okay, Mode Release." His barrier jacket and staff just disappeared and were replaced by the blue marble Lee knew was called Haruno and it floated towards him and put itself around his neck as a necklace appeared. He looked at the blue marble around his neck inquiringly, as if he half-expected something to happen. "So now that I can use magic, what can I do with it." "The answer will come in time. Everyone's magic is unique," said Lance, "you could end up having the ability to heal and teleport like me. I will say for now that you have exceptional combat skills as a mage. Not just anyone could do what you just did. Not to mention you do have a lot of magical talent. That is very rare."


	4. The Easy Training

The Haruno Chronicles

Chapter 4 and we get new moves, and some destruction and a plot overview for those who skipped CH. 1 and 2 as so your not left too out of the loop.

Disclaimer: All rights to all material, names, characters, places ect… go to their respectful owners.

Chapter 4 – The "_Easy_" Training

Lee went home a little bit later in deep thought. He was confused for one. He was sure that he had been with Nanoha and Lance for more than an hour and most likely missed dinner which his parents would be worried over but when he started home and looked at his watch, No time had passed since he first saw Nanoha battle the monster. "Must be magic," he told himself. He did not know how to feel about his magical power. He had been told by Lance that his powers were very rare on Earth and even those who had them usually never knew about it during their lifetime. He was wondering also about what his blue marble Haruno could do. As if to answer his question, Haruno said, "**I am a magical device that makes your magic more affective and powerful. I am here as your weapon**."** "**I don't think I want to call you my weapon. How about I call you my friend. If you can think, you have feelings and should be treated as such," said Lee. "**Okay, master."**

When Lee got home, his Mom asked him how his day was and that dinner would be ready in a few minutes. The rest of the night up to when he went to his room to do his homework was normal. Then during his homework he heard Nanoha's voice. He thought he was imagining it but he then heard it say "Lee. Lee can you hear me. If you can than come to the forest behind the playground tomorrow morning." Lee was not sure if it was his imagination or not but it sounded real enough so as he went to sleep, he decided to go the next morning.

Next morning he got up and ate breakfast quickly and said he was going out for a while. He went straight to the playground and went towards the forest. He didn't see anyone but then he heard Nanoha's voice again. It said, "Go to the clearing a little ways in." Lee had never remembered there being a clearing but it had been a few years since he had been in there so he started to walk through the trees and sure enough there was a clearing. It looked pretty recent and in the middle of the clearing were two tents, a fire and Nanoha and Lance. Nanoha then said, "Hey, I am glad you came. I wasn't sure you were going to believe the telepathic message or not. Come on over." Lee did so and Lance then said, "We called you over here to tell you about the monster from last night and how it all began."

Lee listened carefully as Lance and Nanoha told him every thing starting from the ruin with the Saren stones in it on their home world of Maral to the point where Lee jumped in front of Nanoha shielding her from the beasts attack. "And that's what happened. Now we're here to do the job my dad trusted us to do," said Lance. "Okay, I have listened to your story and I have made a decision. I want to help you. This could be a major problem for everyone and you two after last night look like you could use some help." said Lance in a defiant tone. Nanoha and Lance both smile and Nanoha said, "We knew you would say that which is the main reason we asked you to come today. We want to prepare you. You are powerful but you need to know what you can do. It will be good training for you too. So are you up to it Lee?" "Sure" Lee answered, "I would love to know exactly what I can do."

"Okay, lets begin. We'll start of with a basic exercise that any mage can do. It is telepathic communication like how I contacted you. All you have to do is speak using your heart and I will hear it." Then Nanoha says telepathically, "_Okay you try_." Lee tried to feel the words out in his heart and said telepathically, "_Like this Nanoha._" "Perfect" said Nanoha, "If you ever need to contact me or Lance at any time, you can always contact us like that no matter where we are." "Okay on to step two, let's see your attacks and defense. You will need to transform for this." "Okay Nanoha," Lee said, "Haruno, SET UP." After his Barrier Jacket and Staff formed, Nanoha pointed to three rocks.

She told him to blast one with a weak attack. Haruno suggested GLOWING SHOOTER. He chose that one and as he did a golden circle appeared under him. "**GLOWING SHOOTER". **He shot the Blast of magical energy at the rock and blew it to smithereens. "Good," said Nanoha, "next try the bigger rock and you will need to use a more powerful attack, I put a small aura around it." He already had an idea of what attack to use and as he prepared it, his staff changed into shooting mode and started to gather energy. Nanoha thought this attack was familiar to her. "**SHINNING, BUSTER!**" As the large blast of magical energy disintegrated the boulder, Nanoha let out a leap of surprise. "That was just like my DIVINE BUSTER. It is a very powerful attack. Most Buster types are. Okay next try to destroy the biggest boulder without using the two attacks you already used." Lee didn't know what to do when Haruno said from his staff, "**TRY USING BREAK IMPACT, MY MASTER."** Lee suddenly knew what to do. He flew up into the air. Magical energy began to surround his staff. "Okay, **BREAK IMPACT!"** and as he said it he dove at the top of the rock and hit the top of it with his staff with amazing force. As soon as the staff made impact with the rock, it started to crack all over. Lee flew up hastily. Then the rock exploded with a roaring boom. "Excellent Lee excellent. That is good, you have close combat and far combat capabilities."

Lance walked over and said, "Okay, release your Barrier Jacket and staff. I will be teaching you now. You won't need them." Lee released his Barrier Jacket and staff. "Okay Lee," said Lance walking over with what appeared to be a hurt rabbit, "I want you to try and heal it. You will need an incantation for this. It will come to you if you look for it in yourself." Lee went over to the rabbit and tried to think of an incantation to heal it and one came. "_Bestow upon me the power to mend. An energy that can heal all wounds. __**HEALING GLOW**_." During the incantation a golden magic circle appeared under the rabbit. After he finished the incantation, his hands started to glow gold and he placed them over the rabbit. Its wound healed instantly and it hopped away. "Good job Lee. You're a natural healer. Lets try something more complicated like teleportation magic.

We will start with the quick but useful short-range teleportation. It can teleport you anywhere on a single world. It cannot go to other worlds. All you have to do is in vision the place you are going to and release a short burst of magic around you. Give it a shot Lee." "Easier said than done and it sounds difficult enough," Lee said. Lance walks to the other side and said that if he could get there, he could teleport anywhere on a world as long as he knew where it was. Lee in visions the area right next to Lance and releases some magic. It did not work. "You need to concentrate more Lee," said Lance. Nanoha then said "Its alright if you can't. I am terrible at it but I live without it." "I'll give it another shot," said Lee. He thought of and concentrated intensely on the spot next to Lance. He then releases a nice amount of magic. There was a flash of light and when Lee opened his eyes, he saw Nanoha on the other side of field. "Good job Lee. That was excellent. By the way, if anyone is touching you why you teleport, they will teleport to. If you need to teleport between worlds, it is the same concept except that instead of thinking about the location, you think about the world's dimensional code as you chant it. All you have to do to find the code is think about the planets name. It is that simple. The only thing is that you cannot take people with you. You can only teleport yourself. Only the very rare portal types can take people with them."

Lance had tried to teach Lee transformation magic but it just didn't seem to be his thing. When he tried to change his clothes into a tuxedo, he ended up in his underwear and Nanoha had to look away quickly as Lance repaired the damage. Lee got similar results when he tried support magic. The chains he was supposed to summon were too short and broke the second they were touched. He also could not make a strong barrier. It shattered to even the wind. "Well Lee, no one is universally good at magic and you still impressed me with your good healing and teleportation skills along with your amazing combat skills. Go see Nanoha about Shields."

"Okay Lee, sorry about not teaching this earlier but I am going to teach you about defensive magic. There are 3 types of defensive magic. The first is Shields. These reflect weaker attacks and block stronger ones. These shields are physical so they can block physical damage as well. It is summoned from your hand. The second type is fields. These appear around you and negate an attack. They can block physical damage but not as well as shields. The final type is an aura. These reduce the total magical damage that you are hit with during battle. These last awhile and are like armor but they drain your magic quickly. This type does not help you much against physical damage. Okay lets practice." It took about 2 hours but Lee got the hang of all of them pretty well.

"Okay," said Nanoha, "this is the final thing you need to learn. This is how to use magic without the use of your device. This usually requires a chant for the spell so it is slower to cast but there are certain times where you cannot use you device like if it is damaged. To find the chant for any of YOUR spells, you just have to look in yourself. As you don't use a spell for flight, all you have to do is think about flying why giving off some magic. Okay, give it a try with some of you spells. I want to see you fly and cast **GLOWING SHOOTER – SHINNING BUSTER AND BREAK IMPACT.** Lee started to think about flying. He had only flown twice but he tried it anyway. He released some of his magic and to his amazement was floating in the air. It seemed like second nature. He decided that he really liked flying. Okay now here is the hard part he was thinking over and over. His spells needed chants. "Okay you can do this" he kept on thinking. "By the way Lee, your spells will be different when you cast them this way because they are not being channeled and shot out of a device. They may also be slightly weaker," said Nanoha. Lee looked at three boulders that Nanoha had pointed to.

He knew what to do. He faced the first boulder and thought about the attack he wanted to cast and words came to his thoughts and a magic circle appeared below him. "_Oh glowing energy that pierces my enemies, gather in my hand as I guide you. __**GLOWING SHOOTER.**_" A light gathered at the tip of his pointer finger and when he thought of firing it, the blast of energy shot out of his finger but it was different. He discovered that this blast could be controlled by his mind when he concentrated. He directed it over to the boulder where is cracked it into little pieces but not demolishing it.

Next he thought about his **SHINNING BUSTER** and an incantation came. " _Power of light that destroys all who stand in my way. Gather in my hand the strength of light, as I command you. __**SHINNING BUSTER!"**_ Now energy gathered in his entire hand and he pointed it at the rock. He then thrust his hand with the magic in it forward and launched a semi-powerful ray at the rock, which did disintegrate. He found out that he did not need to use an incantation to use **BREAK IMPACT**. What happened was that when he thought of the spell, magic automatically gathered in his right fist and when he punched the rock with his fist, he made the rock crack all the way through and the crack extended along the ground into the woods as though an earthquake had just hit.

Just then, through telepathy, Haruno gave him an idea for a new attack he did not know of and he decided to test it. "Hey Nanoha, I have this urge to try out an different Incantation I have never used before. I am going to try it. I have the feeling you should stand back." Nanoha did just that. Lee recited the incantation. "_ Magical surge of light combine into one wave of intense power, suppress your explosive energy into one attack. __**HYPER BURST!!!" **_After he said it a magical sphere appeared in the palm of Lee's hand. He knew what to do. He pointed the sphere at another, considerably larger boulder and released all of it at once. The blast was so powerful that besides not only disintegrating the boulder and creating a path of destruction through the forest a mile long, it blasted Lee backs several feet. "That was amazing Lee!" said Nanoha in astonishment, "Who knew that you could release something so powerful without your device. But I would be careful with it. It looks like it drains a lot out of you."

Lance then came over and said "Okay, that is it. You are done with the training and you did excellent. You're strong in most areas, which is very good. Well see you tomorrow." Lee then tried and succeeded in teleporting back to his house and went to his room and went to sleep as the day had worn him out completely. When he next woke up an hour later, his mother said that dinner would be ready in an hour. He went to his back yard to see something. He got an idea that Haruno put in his head about being able to gather a small amount of energy in his hand to shot without an incantation or transforming. He tried it out and to his surprise, a small golden ball of energy appeared at the tip of his pointer. He imagined himself shooting it why aiming his pointer at a trashcan. It shot straight at the trashcan and went straight through it leaving a small palm sized hole where it had gone through. He was happy about this neat little discovery and then he went in for dinner.


	5. New Magic

The Haruno Chronicles

Ch. 5. New magic, some more new spells, badly kept secrets, some messing around and some new power. This chapter may seem lengthy but it is actually normal sized compared with those to come. The previous ones were just short.

Disclaimer: All rights to all material, names, characters, places ect… go to their respectful owners.

Chapter 5 – New magic

Today was Monday. It had been 2 days since he had finished training with Nanoha and Lance. The day after that he had experimented with his magic and had discovered a few things. One was that he could create a small magical ball, which he could control with his mind. It did not create a magic circle. Actually most of the powers he discovered that day did not create a magic circle. That would be handy because he could use them even with people around and as long as he was careful, people would not notice it was he doing it all. Another one of his new powers was that if he concentrated, he could move objects with his mind. He could also see into a non-magical persons mind but only for a minute at most so he had to find out what he wanted quickly. The last power, which was the only one he needed a magic circle to produce, was that he could make someone immobile for a few minutes.

He was trying to think how he could use his new powers to help him in school. He found his first use when he saw his bus leave his stop a few seconds before he got there. "Okay" he thought to himself, "I just need to concentrate on the clearing in the woods right near the school and…" As he thought it, he started to vanish and a second later found himself at the clearing with the school right down the street. "Perfect. Now I won't be late," he said in relief. He had been late almost everyday last week and he was told he would get detention if he was late this week too. He ran to school and went to his classroom where he started to get ready for the day while waiting for his friends who were riding the bus.

"Hay, how are you here before me, you didn't even ride the bus," said Chrono. "I missed it so I ran," was Lee's reply. "Well then explain how you got here so fast that you beat the bus." "Well I ran through the woods." This could be true; he could beat the bus if he ran through the woods at full speed. "Wow, you must have ran really fast," came Sakura's voice from the door. Her parents drove her to school because she had a phobia of buses. When they asked her why, she replied, " Because my grandparents died in an accident on a bus." They didn't ask anymore and told her they were sorry for asking and she said it was okay, they didn't know.

Lee didn't know if he wanted his friends to know about his magic yet so he kept it a secret and decided to do little bits of magic throughout the day and see how they would react. He didn't want to lose his friends. He found his first chance during this mornings P.E. class. The boy's were playing soccer and the girls were on the bars. He was running to the goal with the ball when he saw a chance. He kicked the ball to the goal and it looked like it was about to miss so he concentrated on the ball with his magic and willed it to go down a around the goalie's hand and as he thought it, the ball started to move bizarrely and it went down and straight around the goalie and into the goal. Everyone was looking amazed at the shot when he said with fake amazement "Wow that sure was lucky how the wind pushed the ball around, like magic." Chrono came over and said, "That was the best shot I have ever seen. That isn't something you see everyday. The game continued and he did a little more tweaking of the balls movement except he started to do it when other people on his team shot instead of himself.

When it was time for a break, he went over to see how the girls were doing. It looked like it was Sakura's turn next and when she went on, she was perfect. Everyone applauded except from the mean group of girls in the back from their class. One of them said "A baby could do that," and another one said " Hey, I just got a call from the zoo, they told you to stay in your monkey cage this time." Sakura started to cry. Lee saw this and felt bad for Sakura who did nothing wrong and decided to help her out a bit. The bars were removable and Lee had an idea. He used his magic to slightly move the bars so they would fall off if pulled on too much. The girl went to the bars and as soon as she pulled herself up, it fell down and broke in half. All the kids started to laugh why the teacher went over to see if the girl was okay. She was fine. Sakura looked at this and cheered up a little. He then gathered up a small amount of magical energy in his finger and shot it at the wall. It made a very large bang near the other girls and they all screamed. Sakura cheered up a lot from this and they went on with their P.E. class. He went back to his own P.E. class so he wouldn't get in trouble.

During his math class, he used his power to help the class by getting out of class when he guided a bullet of magical energy shot he had gathered under the desk through the undersides of the desks around their teacher and up to the smoke detector and set it off. The fire alarm went of for a few seconds and they were all sent out side. They were told that they could go home now because they needed to go through the school and see what set off the alarm. Everyone was happy about this because they got out of school 2 hours early. All the kids went home. Lee had decided to tell them when they met up in the park later.

Later in the park they had all gathered like they usually do on Mondays. They talked about a lot of stuff and then Lee said he had something to tell them. Right when he was about to tell them he saw a large black Dog like the one from the other day. His friends saw it and screamed in terror as it launched a large blast of dark magical energy. Lee said "Get down now" and went in front of them. He shielded them and created a magical field all around them. "What the devil are you doing Lee," said Chrono. "Listen," said Lee, " I am going to hold it off, you two run as far away as possible." "What are you nuts, you can't fight that thing, were just lucky that this shield thing appeared to protect us," said Sakura in a defiant tone. "You still don't get it," said Lee, "I can understand Chrono but you should've at least realized by now that it is _ME_ holding up this protective field. I created it." "How did _you_ do a thing like that." I have no time to explain so just trust me when I say I can handle this and you need to get out of here," said Lee. "Okay," said Sakura, "but you better come back. I will never forgive you if you die on us." "What do we do," said Chrono, "We are kind of trapped in this shield thing, how do we get out?" Lee replied, "In a second I will teleport all of us out of here, the second we are out of range, a friend of mine will take you some where safe, they are waiting for us."

Lee teleported them the instant after he finished speaking and they reappeared a few blocks away. Chrono and Sakura said simultaneously, "That was weird." "Lee, hey Lee. We are over here," said Nanoha running over with Lance right behind her. "No time for introductions" said Lee, "Lance, get them out of range, me and Nanoha will fight them off. And if you could do me a favor, please explain what is going on, they have a right to know and I was about to tell them anyway right before this monster appeared." "Okay Lee, but in return you have to seal that thing." "Okay Haruno, SET UP." He transformed into his barrier jacket and his staff appeared next to him. Lee and Nanoha then flew towards the monster.

"Okay, I am going to teleport you guys so stand still," said Lance. He teleported them to the edge of town, far away from the monster. But in a perfect location to see everything that was going on. "Okay I think I should explain to you guys what is going on," said Lance, "a few days ago, when Lance was walking home from school, he came across us in the park fighting a monster, not this one but one similar to this one. He saw that Nanoha had been cornered and went to protect her. This is when he discovered his magical power. He fought with the monster and sealed it in its true form, the Saren stone. This stone is a magical artifact from my world, there are 26 of them that landed on this world and Nanoha and I came to retrieve them. Lee has decided to help us so we trained him the past few days, which is why he is so knowledgeable about his magic. But it is almost unfathomable how good he is and how much he has improved since we started training him. What he learned in two days is what most mages learn in about 10 years. Well now you know the whole story." Sakura and Chrono stood there with their jaws dropped. "So you say that he now has magic powers and that he and that Nanoha girl are going to fight that thing alone," said Chrono. "We want to help," said Sakura, "That is mine and your best friend out there and I just can't stand by and watch." Lance then told them "It really doesn't matter if you wanted to help of not, as soon as I erect the barrier, you will disappear into suspended animation along with every other non-magical being."

Lance started to erect the magical barrier. His magic circle had already appeared and it only took him a minute to cover the entire area. "Hey, when are you going to erect the barrier thing, were ready you know." Lance turned around quickly and saw Chrono and Sakura just standing there puzzled. "That is weird," said Lance, "The barrier is already up so unless…" A thought just occurred to him. He told them to stand perfectly still. He started chanting "_By my magic I so decree, If there is power within these souls that stand before me, reveal itself to thy brave spirits!"_ A very large magical circle appeared under Sakura and Chrono. Then two smaller ones appeared under them. A blue magic circle appeared under Chrono and a red circle appeared under Sakura. "What is going on," they said in unison. It's as I thought, you two have sleeping magical powers just like Lee except yours needed a little push to get them started. Two objects appeared in front of them. They looked like marbles, one pink and one black. The black one flew over to Chrono and the pink one flew over to Sakura.

"What are these?" "**WE ARE BLACK FALCON AND CERENITY. WE ARE YOUR DEVICES MASTERS,"** said the marbles. Lance said, " Tell them to set up." "Okay," they said, "SET UP!" There was a flash of light and they reappeared. Chrono had a black and silver robe with a blazer that was black with white stripes. Sakura was wearing a white dress with pink frills and black lines going up the sides. She also had a pink blazer. Sakura's staff had a pink handle with a gold circular top with an opening at the top and Chrono's was black with a Dark Silver top that looked like a circle with a point at the top. "Okay, this will be a learn as you go thing," said Lance, " Now go help Lee and Nanoha." The two with looks of surprise on their face at what just happened started to fly towards the battle.

Lee and Nanoha started at the beast again. Nanoha shot her Divine Buster and knocked it back. Then Lee teleported behind it and hit it with his Break Impact which didn't do much. The monster seemed to have the power to regenerate. Then from out of nowhere came 2 people that Lee didn't recognize for a second. "Hey, how you holding up. Thought we could give you a hand. You look like you need it." Chrono and Sakura arrived right in front of Lee. "Where did all this come from," said Lee. Sakura said, "Well when Lance put up the barrier, he noticed we were not expelled from the space so he did a little digging and found we had dormant magic in us so he awakened it and here we are, ready to help you." "**MASTER, LETS USE GRAVITON STRIKE,"** said Black Falcon. "If you say so Black Falcon," said Chrono. "Okay. **GRAVITON STRIKE**!" and he found himself launching himself at the beast with his staff aimed right at it. He hit it straight on and his staff seemed to release a shockwave of magic straight through it and blew it to bits. It reformed itself in no time and started to attack. "**OKAY MASTER, ITS OUR TURN. TRY USING PLATNIUM SCARLET SMASHER,"** said Cerenity. "Change mode, Firing type." Sakura's staff reformed its head into what looked like a small cannon barrel. Magical energy gathered and the head started to shine as a red Magic circle appeared under her. "Okay set**, PLATNIUM SCARLET SMASHER**." She aimed her staff straight at the monster. "**FIRE**." A large wave of magic shot at the monster that seemed to damage it until it healed itself.

"We NEED a more powerful attack. Haruno, is there any way to use Hyper Burst during transformation." "No," said Haruno. "Then what can we do," said Lee. "**Try using PURE LIGHT BREAKER Master." **"Okay, I hope this works Haruno." He changed his staff into shooting mode. "Okay, Lets do this," said Lee. He flew high into the air. A gold magic circle appeared under him and it was big. It seemed to cover the entire block. He felt himself fly higher up into the sky. Three large magical rings appeared. The middle one was bigger than the outer two. Lee magical power was gathering in the middle. "This is it," said Lee. He could feel all the power now all gathered waiting to be launched. The rings seemed to go around the head of his staff with all the magic gathered at the tip of the staff. "Okay Haruno, This is it. **PURE LIGHT **_**BREAKER!!!!!"**_ He fired all the magic he had gathered at the beast and it was unbelievable. The blast of magical energy was so powerful; it tore apart everything in sight just by passing it. The monster was no exception as it was hit full force with the attack. It disintegrated except for a little blob with the Saren Stone in it. Haruno changed into sealing mode and sealed it quickly, then Haruno absorbed it. The bottom of the staff was now shooting steam out from the attack and sealing. He felt himself at a loss for words at what he just did. When he looked back at where he fired the attack, he saw nothing but a crater that was so large, that it looked like multiple blocks had just been hit by a missile. He felt drained of all his magic and flew to the ground quickly so he didn't fall by being too wiped to fly.

Everyone was gathering around Lee now as he landed. "Lee, that was _INCREDABLE_," was all Chrono and Sakura could say. Nanoha then came and said, "Lee, that attack. What was it?" "Well Haruno told me to use it so I did," said Lee, "What did Haruno call it?" "**Pure Light Breaker**," said Haruno. "That attack looked a lot like my attack so I was surprised when I saw it. It seems to be a different version of my most powerful attack. Mine is called the Starlight Breaker. Although after seeing yours, I am not sure which one is more powerful," said Nanoha. "Lee, how did you do something like this," said Chrono. "I just felt it out, I don't know how it happened." Sakura said, " Well I am just glad you are okay. You would have broken our promise if you hadn't come back." "Well," said Lance, everyone stand back, this spell needs some room to work. Okay it's my turn to help out as this teams support user." Lance started saying, "_Catastrophes mark now be gone, erase all traces of your destruction, MAGICAL RESTORATION."_ There was a flash and when it died down, the entire area had been healed to look like nothing had happened, the crater and all the cracks that had been created by the battle had vanished. "Okay everyone, disarm your barrier jackets and staffs, I am going to have to let the barrier down soon, I am too wiped to hold it up much longer and I don't think it a good idea if people saw you like this." They all let down their Barrier Jackets. Lance then told Nanoha to teleport them all outside the barrier. "I can't do that," said Nanoha, knowing that she was terrible when it came to teleportation magic along with disguise support and partly close-combat magic. "Why don't you just lend me some energy then Nanoha," said Lee quickly. "Good idea, " said Lance, "Okay with you Nanoha." "Raging Heart," said Nanoha and Raging Heart replied "**Power Charge**." Lee felt some power return. "Okay," said Lee, "I don't have enough power to do this more than once so you will all have to be in contact with me when I teleport," every put a hand on Lee, "Go." He teleported them all to Nanoha and Lance's campsite. "Okay good work Lee," said Lance, " I am letting down the barrier." He released the barrier and everyone continued with what they were doing as if nothing had happened (as far as they knew, nothing had happen. Lance had done an exceptional job with the clean up.)


	6. Friends

The Haruno Chronicles

Chapter 6. Training, fun, hanging out with friends and a "_new_" person comes to stay. Also if you didn't see it yet, quoted text in _italics_ are telepathy. This is a shorty.

Disclaimer: All rights to all material, names, characters, places ect… go to their respectful owners.

Chapter 6 – Friends

"Okay you three," said Sakura, "I want an explanation for all of this and I want it NOW." "We have a right to know," said Chrono. They had just been teleported to the campsite along with Nanoha and Lance by Lee and they wanted answers. "Okay, sit down, said Lance, "I will tell you everything that it haven't already told you." Lance told them everything from his accidental unsealing of the magical Saren stones to the battle they just had. They listened open-mouthed. "And now Lee has decided to help us so we gave him special training which is why he is so good. There I have told you everything," concluded Lance. "So are we also allowed to help you guy's," said Chrono. "We don't want you guy's to be doing this by yourselves. The more of us there are, the better chance you guys have of success," said Sakura. "Okay," said Nanoha, " you guy's can help but only under the condition that you try the same training as Lee. Okay." They agreed immediately.

They started training immediately. The training was slightly different from what Lee had done as Sakura and Chrono didn't know how to control their transformations. It took them the better part of a day to figure out how to do it. Their magical items were also different from Lee's small Marble. For Chrono, his item, Black Falcon, was originally a black marble but when he got used to the transformation, it turned into a black and grey watch and magically attached to his wrist in a way so only Chrono could take it off. Chrono liked the watch a lot better than the necklace. He didn't like things around his neck much ever since he was a child and almost strangled himself to death on a phone cord. Lance thought that Black Falcon probably sensed this and turned into the watch on its own accord.

Sakura's item was also originally a pink marble but like Chrono, after she got used to transforming too, her pink marble, Cerenity, changed into a bracelet with CERENITY connected like a little charm. Sakura didn't like to wear anything on her neck except a small gold and sapphire pendent left to her by her mother before she died. Sakura was only five years old when her mother died and that pendent was the only thing she could remember her mother by. Due to this, she always wore that pendent around her neck and refused to wear anything else around her neck. She also refused to remove it under any circumstance, even in school where they forbid jewelry in gym class and in the classroom. After a while, her dad had to come in and explain the circumstance under which she refused to remove the necklace. He had to come in because Sakura had bit a teacher's hand when they tried to remove it and she had to be sent to the principles office. Cerenity obviously had sensed this strong connection between the pendent and her master so it decided to change into a bracelet instead.

Training started by testing what types of magic they were good at. Chrono was a completely combative type with close and middle range magic specialties and perfect flying magic but his shields could only be round shields or Aura's and he had absolutely ZERO aptitude for transformation, long range attack, binding, search type, and healing magic. He could also only do short range teleportation and could only teleport himself and no one else. Sakura ended up being a sniper type attacker with middle-range to long-range attack power but was extremely accurate, but not as strong as Chrono. She could also do healing magic, binding magic, shielding magic, Barrier magic, transformation magic and was able to teleport anywhere. She also had the power to teleport to different worlds as they found out that she was also a rare portal type as well, which could open gateways between different worlds to allow multiple people to go through. This power was rare even in other worlds. Though she had Zero close-combat potential and was less agile in the air then Chrono and could not do search-type. She was also a natural at multi-shot attacks. She was the type that could concentrate on many shots at a time and could control it flawlessly. Both of them also had absolutely Zero talent for wide area attacks unlike Lee.

Next Lee took over and showed them that they could do magic while they were not transformed too. Lee was instructing this because Lance and Nanoha both grew up in a world where magic was a part of normal life so doing it not transformed was second nature to them. Nanoha also usually didn't need to use an incantation to do attacks while not transformed. This was something that Lee could not figure out. Lance, who was a direct magic type never transformed and so he could use magic regularly as if he had a staff without an incantation but the magic would be more powerful if he used the incantation. Lee tested them on what he could do. Chrono could teleport but only around the country while not transformed. Sakura lost her ability to do long range (portal) teleportation while normal but still had perfect short range teleportation ability so she could teleport herself anywhere in the world like Lee.

Lee tried them out on some other abilities as well. Both could fly at about the same level while normal. Chrono was able to make a slightly smaller ball of magic than Lee's but it also didn't make a magic circle. He could also make someone immobile for a bit longer than Lee could. His immobilization technique lasted about 10 minutes but still required a magic circle to use. Sakura was able to make a ball of magical power slightly bigger than Lee's and it didn't create a magic circle. She could also read non-mages minds without a time limit on how long she could do it for. To both of their frustration, neither Sakura nor Chrono could move objects at will from afar like Lee could. They couldn't even make an object hover.

After a few days, they had mastered their respective skill sets and even learned that they didn't need incantations for their attacks while normal but apart from it being not as powerful as any of Lee's attacks, it required a lot of magic and that created a big magic circle. Lee needed incantations for most of his attacks but they seemed to be much more powerful for it and didn't take as much energy. It took Chrono and Sakura 3 times as much time to learn everything. So after two weeks they finished their training.

During the training, Lance had put up a space-time barrier so what seemed to be two weeks to them was actually just a minute each day for those two weeks. Chrono and Sakura had not gone to school for two weeks though because the training was difficult and thus made them extraordinarily tired. Sakura's dad and Chrono's parents both saw how tired they were and put it down to them being sick so they kept them home until they became lively again. Both Chrono and Sakura's family's were rich so staying how in their large houses was not boring for them at all.

After they finished training, it was a weekend and since their parents saw that they "had gotten better" (stopped training), they allowed them to go out with Lee to go do stuff for the day. Sakura loved shopping and usually dragged Lee and Chrono along with her whenever she went to the mall. She had once went by herself and got into a bad situation with some punks at the mall and ended up getting robbed of all her money and shopping and got her arm broken when she was trying to get away. Ever since then her parents never let her go shopping alone and only let her go to the mall without them if she was with Chrono and Lee. Both Chrono and Lee looked weak but were both pretty strong muscled and Chrono had a reputation at school in arm wrestling so after saying that they wouldn't do anything stupid, her parents said she could go to the mall with them. Since then, there was only one incident and after Chrono knocked the first punk out cold, the rest of them ran away and they hadn't been bothered since.

After they went shopping (well, Sakura went shopping and Lee and Chrono carrying the bags), they ate lunch at the food court and then went to see a movie. After that, Sakura wanted to do more shopping and so it was back to Sakura shopping and Chrono and Lee carrying bags when they saw some people behind them. They were looking at them from behind and had a weird look on their faces so Lee decided to take a quick peek into their minds with his magic and as they thought, these people were thieves who thought that they could probably make easy money by robbing some kids. Lee then told Chrono to see if he could find a place where he could go where his magic wouldn't be seen. He gave the bags he was carrying to Lee and headed to the emergency staircase and after making sure there was no security cameras looking at him (there wasn't, what lousy mall security) he focused his mind on the two crooks and a magic circle appeared under him, he then released a small freezing spell and the two crooks stopped exactly where they were. Chrono, not wanting to make a scene only used enough magic for 3 minutes so that not too many people would see and those who did see would just think these people were weird. He ran back to Lee and said that they should leave quickly. They went into the jewelry store that Sakura was in and told her that they were leaving now. She didn't understand and they told her that they would tell her once they had left.

When they left, Lee told Sakura about the two thieves following them and Sakura said thanks to them for what they did. They went home to find a big surprise. The first surprise was at Sakura's house. Sakura's parents said welcome back and that they had some important news they needed to tell her. They said the others could stay as well for dinner as it was getting late. They would drive them back later and had already called their parents. They all went into the sitting room and Sakura's dad started to say "We know this is sudden but there is a foreign exchange student that is going to start attending your school on Monday and we have decided to let them stay here. It is a girl so I don't think you will have a problem with her. We wanted to keep it a surprise. We have known about it for about 2 weeks and she has just arrived today while you were at the mall. I'll invite her in now" and he left the room. He came back a minute later and said "Everyone, this is Nanoha." They all looked and sure enough it was Nanoha, the one that had helped them so much. They all kept their surprise to themselves, as they didn't want Sakura's parents to become suspicious. Later, after dinner, they all went into Sakura's (very pink) room and Sakura said, "How did you manage to get yourself to seem like a foreign exchange student to everyone." " Magic" said Nanoha and she told them it would probably be better if they would be closer to each other so they could fight together. She also said I would be more fun this way too.


	7. Lee's Little Sister

The Haruno Chronicles

CH.7 The first of many family members and then some fun stuff. Hope you like

Disclaimer: All rights to all material, names, characters, places ect… go to their respectful owners.

Chapter 7 – Lee's Little sister

Lance, who Nanoha had asked to come, said that it would be better if he didn't. He said at least one of them should be o the lookout for any trouble. Nanoha was disappointed at this but went along with it. She fit in with everybody really well surprisingly. She seamed to have studied this worlds history a lot because she seamed to be perfect at most of the classes perfectly, except for two. It turned out that like Sakura and Lee, she had no Math skills what so ever. But unlike Sakura and Lee, Nanoha was NOT an athlete. It turned out that while transformed, she used her magic to increase her physical traits as to not wear herself out. She decided to do the same here and after the first lap when she collapsed, she put some of her magic into her abilities and she became full of energy. She had to keep an eye on how much she used as to not do something insanely impossible by normal standards and draw attention to her.

A few days passed and Nanoha became accustomed to her school life. She seemed to be very smart for being from a different world. It turned out that she had studied up on Earth before coming. She used some of Lances search magic to remember it all super quick. The side affect was that it made here seem like a total braincase. This at first got her labeled as a nerdy genius until they got to know her better. Then they saw her as a normal classmate. Lance had told them that Nanoha had a thing for making friends with people very quickly. It was very hard to not like her. She had a friendly aura that affected everyone around her and made them happy.

Over the next week, they captured 2 more Saren stones, numbers 25 and 23. Sakura, being very linear wondered why it went from 25 to 23 without 24 anywhere in there. Lance explained that there was no numerical sense when it came to magic. While they were talking about this, they were walking home. Actually they were walking too Lee's house to discuss their battle plans as to be more efficient. When they got there, Lee noticed an extra but familiar pair of shoes. Chrono and Sakura hadn't noticed so he kept quiet as if he didn't notice anything as to surprise them.

When they all took their shoes off, they headed to Lee's room. When they finally got to Lee's room, someone ran to, hugged and almost knocked over lee. "Where have you been, I have been waiting forever Lee." "Hey Sarah," said Lee with a completely surprised look on his face. "What are you doing here? Weren't you supposed to be attending a boarding school in Europe." "I was but I transferred back because it got too lonely in England. I wasn't making many friends and I hate tea and its all tea, tea and tea with them and I thought we had it bad in Japan. It drove me nuts so I decided to come back. Didn't mom tell you that I was coming back today?" "Not at all," said Lee. "I bet she thought it would be funny to surprise me." Sarah then turned to Sakura and said "hey Sakura, long time no see." Sarah always liked it when Sakura came over. They would always do each other's hair and other stuff. They were almost as good of friends as Sakura was with Lee. Then she said hi to Chrono who used to lend her some of his toys that she liked.

Then at last she turned to Nanoha. As Nanoha had only been there for about 2 months, Sarah didn't know her at all. This was also impart to the fact that Sarah didn't call home or write much. It was kind of weird when you think about it, her being homesick and all and yet not calling or writing. Sarah was looking at Nanoha Inquiringly. Sarah was not the type of person who judged people on first impressions or looks. This meant that she didn't have an opinion of a person until she got to know them better. This didn't stop Nanoha even though she noticed it. She introduced herself "Hi, I'm Nanoha. I uh just transferred here from the united states." Sarah then introduced herself. Nanoha then looked at Lee and asked why she had never met Sarah before or had even heard Lee mention her before as Nanoha had been to the house several times before. Lee explained that due to her exceptional grades, his 11-year-old sister Sarah was sent to a private boarding school in London. Nanoha said, "Well that doesn't explain why you didn't mention you had a little sister." Lee replied, "Well, I forgot to tell you." "SO am I just chopped liver to you," said Sarah. "No, its not that, its just–," he stopped there as everyone started to laugh. Lee felt a little embarrassed over his little emotional outburst. Sarah then noticed Lance who was a ferret right now on Nanoha's shoulder. She went and tried to pet it. Lee said to Lance telepathically "sorry about this. I will make up for this later." Lance replied "It's alright, I kind of like the attention."

Finally after all the introductions were done. Lee asked Sarah for her to wait for her in her bedroom, which now was technically the guest room right now. Everyone else went into Lee's room. They talked about their strategy for when the next Saren Stone appeared. It turned out that neither Chrono nor Sakura could actually seal a Saren stone. Lance (who could speak normally in his ferret form) told them that it did not surprise him. Not all mages could seal stuff. It is just a randomness of magic that depicts who can seal and who cannot seal. He said only about one in three mages could seal. It wasn't rare but it was also not a majority so it also did not surprise Lance that Lee could seal. Lance could seal but wasn't very good at it so he usually didn't do it. They decided that the best tactic would be for Nanoha/Lee (who ever got there first) and or Chrono would go first and weaken it. Sakura would be battle support by sniping it from long range. Then Lee or Nanoha would seal it. That person would be the one who came later. Lance during the entire battle would focus on a barrier and healing someone if they got hurt. He was also responsible for protecting them why they were healing. He also took care of clean up so no one would notice what had happened. This seamed to satisfy everyone so it was decided that this would be their strategy.

Sarah could hear briefly what they were saying through the wall but not all of it. She just thought it was some type of new video game her brother got. When everyone left, Lee went to her sister's room and asked to come in. She told him to enter. He did and when he sat down, Sarah asked, "So what were you talking about with your friends, some type of new video game?" Lee was unprepared for this question but tried not to lose face as to not make her suspicious. He decided to go not go with the video game theory because then she might want to try the imaginary video game. He decided on a different explanation. "It was actually a dodge ball tactic. Were in a small dodge ball tournament at school with the other 8th grade class. We had to stop halfway through the game today and were the only ones who haven't gotten out yet." Sarah then asked, "then what is this sealing thing you kept mentioning?" Lee answered prepared for this question, "that just our way of saying going for the kill to get the last of them out. I can see the next question on your face as well and Lance is the name of Nanoha's ferret and he is the team Mascot." " How did you know I was about to say that." Lee had actually peeked into her mind quickly with his magic but told her that it was practically written all over her face. She still seemed in disbelief of how accurate he was so he changed the subject very quickly.

They started talking, as they hadn't seen each other in months. She asked how dad was. She hadn't heard from him. Their dad is a bodyguard whose only weapon are his katana and some throwing knives. Apart from the fact that he has an unusual arsenal, any person he has ever guarded never got a scratch on them, even when bombed. He was known as one of the best bodyguards in Japan. Because of his work, he was gone from the house for sometimes months at a time. He even had a small dojo he built connected to the house so he could train. When he was away, Lee still had to keep it clean and that was a pain. Lee told her that he was guarding a government official on a trip to a foreign nation and that was all he knew. They also talked about what Sarah's plan was now that she was home. She was going to take a week off and then start school. The next day was a weekend so Lee told her that tomorrow he had nothing to do so they could hang out. She decided that she wanted to go around seeing what had changed so they made a plan to leave the next day at 10:00.

After breakfast the next morning, they left the house saying they would be gone for a few hours. Their mother said that they needed to be home before dinner and then they left. First they went through the city to Sarah's favorite spots. Then they had Lunch at her favorite café. The café's menu changed a little and it didn't have the type of latte that Sarah liked. This bummed her out a little until she tried one of their new latte's and then proclaimed that that was her favorite latte from now on. Next they went to the mall. They both knew that the mall hadn't changed at all but Lee knew that Sarah wanted to go shopping so he went along with it. They went to her favorite clothing store first. They were having a sale so it was pretty busy in there. While trying on new clothes and asking Lee what he thought of them, a lady trying to run to the other side of the stop knocked over a showcase and it started falling in the direction of Sarah. Lee instinctively acted by stopping the bookcase with his magic. Sarah ran out of its range and he let it down. "I don't know what just happened but it sure was lucky," said Sarah. "Yeah, it was," said Lee.

After Sarah was done shopping, it was 4:30. "Isn't it about time we headed home Sarah?" said Lee. "I think your right Lee. Should we go by subway or walk." As they were not far away from home, they decided to save their money and walk home. Also they could walk through the park, which Sarah had wanted to do anyway. When they got to the park. Sarah went around looking at what had changed. Suddenly, they both heard a crash nearby. They both went to see curious about what made the sound. They got to where the sound came from and only found a large hole in the ground. Suddenly, a huge Black wolf appeared out of the hole in front of them.


	8. Fighting Siblings

The Haruno Chronicles

CH. 8 Continuation of the last chapter, but Lee isn't all there is to see.

Disclaimer: All rights to all material, names, characters, places ect… go to their respectful owners.

Chapter 8 – Fighting Siblings

Sarah screamed in terror of the monster in front of her. The monster saw them and shot a blast of Black colored magic energy at them. Lee jumped out in between Sarah and erected a barrier from his hand. It wasn't as powerful without being transformed so he was pushed back a few feet but held it off. "What the hell was that," said Sarah. "No time to explain, just get back." Lee flew up into the air to Sarah's amazement and he put a field of protection around Sarah. He then sent a message to everyone telepathically, "Help, monster, park, quick." He knew since the monster had distorted the space with magic, they couldn't teleport so it would take some time for them to arrive. The monster just kept attacking so he didn't have time to transform.

"Alright, if that is the way you want it," said Lee. He gathered some magic into his right fist and flew straight at the giant wolf. "**BREAK IMPACT,**" it connected square on but it only dazed him for a second. He decided he needed to use that attack. He landed so he wouldn't fly through the air from the backlash. "_ Magical surge of light combine into one wave of intense power, suppress your explosive energy into one attack. __**HYPER BURST!"**_He unleashed an immense wave of magical energy that hit the Giant Wolf. It seemed to do some damage and knock it back a distance. He then went over to his sister. "Grab a hold of my hand, quickly, said Lee. Sarah grabbed his hand and he quickly teleported her to a hill a little ways away from the monster. "Okay, I want an explanation for this. What the hell is happening and how are you doing all this with the flying and the fighting and the bizarre light stuff," said Sarah exuberantly. "I promise I will explain later but just wait here for now," said Lee hastily. Lee then pulled the blue marble off his neck and said, "Haruno, _set up._" He transformed into his barrier jacket and his staff appeared beside him. He then flew back to where the monster was. Wishing to go faster, Haruno activated **SPEED BOOST. **Lee was surprised for a second then found he liked the increased speed.

When he got back to the place the Giant wolf was, he found that the wolf had already recovered from the **HYPER BURST**. Okay, take this, **BREAK IMPACT**, he hit the wolf in the head and this time it seemed to do some massive damage. The wolf seemed stunned but then regenerated very quickly and resumed his attacking shooting magic blasts at random. Lee dodged them easily. Then Haruno said, "Try **M****ass****S****word****D****river** mode." "Okay, **MSD, ignition start**" His barrier jacket started to change. Now it was lighter and slimmer but otherwise the same. The real change was in his staff. It had changed into a Sword with Haruno imbedded in the hilt. Haruno said, "Beware, you cannot use spells in this form but you can used auras and shields. But you have amazing close combat power in SDM mode." Lee felt it, he felt powerful. He then charged for the wolf and swung aiming to cut through the head. He also realized that he had insanely enhanced speed in his new form. To the monster, he appeared as a blur if anything at all. He sliced through the head and to his surprise; he cut the entire wolf in half with the one swing. There was also a crack in the ground. The monstrosity just regenerated itself and Lee sliced it a few more times. It wasn't doing anything so he changed his sword into his staff in shooting mode. He shot his **shinning buster** right at it. It made a big hole in the monster but it just regenerated. The monster seemed to be smarter than the other foe's he had faced; it seemed to learn from each attack.

The monster then did something totally unexpected, it charged at Sarah. Lee activated **MSD** and his staff changed into the sword again and he sped in between them quickly and sliced it into a million pieces (literally) in a blink of an eye. It then regenerated and the battle resumed. Sarah just continued to watch in horror and amazement at what his brother was doing as he went head to head. She then became depressed. She thought to herself, "Why is this happening." She just watched her brother continue to fight without luck. It just kept regenerating.

After a bit, only one thought was flowing through Sarah's head. "I want to help, how can I help. I need to help my brother, I will not let him fight on his own and be in danger." The Monster then charged up a huge blast of Magical energy, it was immense. With his speed, Lee easily dodged it. Unfortunately, he realized a split second too late that by dodging the blast, it started to head towards Sarah. He charged but he knew that he wouldn't make it. The same thoughts still were going through Sarah's head. "I want to help, let me fight, give me Strength," and then it happened, She began to glow brightly, she was enveloped in a white light. Then a pure white shield appeared right in front of her. Then a very light whitish-blue marble appeared from out of Sarah. "**BRIGHT DESTINY** **here to help, Master. Say Set Up.**" "BRIGHT DESTINY, SET UP" There was an insanely bright flash of white light, then Sarah reappeared and was in a pale white dress and what seemed to be a pure shinning white blazer with a single black stripe on the top part of the dress. Then a Staff appeared next to her. It was Bright white with silver stripes and a whitish-blue head in the shape of a ball and there were four silver prongs around that ball. Also her hair turned bright white. Sarah was amazed at what happened.

Then a Pure White magic circle appeared under her. "Try **PIERCING LIGHTS." **Sarah knew what to do instantly. She held her staff up high and magic balls of light started flowing out of it and gathering in front of her. She then pointed her staff at the wolf and said, "**PIERCING LIGHTS, FIRE."** They all fired straight at the Giant monster Wolf and pierced him all over. It regenerated but slower due to the imbedded light magic fragments all through its body. "**Second stage, BLIND DESTRUCTION**." All of the light fragments instantly exploded blasting it to smithereens. It then regenerated again but it took a while this time due to the extensive Damage. "Try **ANGELIC AURA**." She tried it and she then started shinning in a white aura. The monster attacked with a blast of magic. When it hit her, she didn't feel anything. "**ANGELIC AURA **only lasts for three hits before it disappears and you can't reuse it for a while afterwards. Now try **BLAZING DESTINY**, master." She then pointed her staff straight up and a super large magic circle appeared under her, then a sphere appeared above her. It was shinning white and it kept getting bigger and bigger until it was the size of a city block. "Lee, Brace yourself." "Okay, **SHINNING ARMOR,"** Lee was now glowing in a golden light almost as bright as Sarah's. She then pointed her staff at the monster and the giant sphere moved with the staff. "**BLAZING DESTINY, SHOOT."** The giant blast of White magic shot straight for the wolf at an amazing speed like a giant bullet. It left a path of destruction in its wake as it passed. It hit the monster straight on and on contact, exploded in a blinding blast of magical energy that sent shockwaves of power shooting in all directions, leveling about a square mile of the city to nothing but bits of dusts.

"Holy crap, warn a guy, would you," said Lee. "Sorry Lee. I had no idea what would happen, I just did it by instinct." "Get smarter instincts then," said Lee. Just then, Tiny bits of black stuff started to converge in mid air and slowly, the Black Wolf regenerated itself. "What is it going to take to get rid of this thing," said Sarah. "Try the **H****oly****B****lade****D****river** mode, master. "Okay Destiny, **HBD mode, IGNITION START!**" Now Sarah's staff turned into a small sword with a silver hilt with BRIGHT DESTINY imbedded in it and a pure white blade. "Master, please note that the only moves you can use in this mode are **BRIGHT SLASH** and **FLASH CROS**S," said Destiny. "Okay, Lets use **BRIGHT SLASH**." The blade began to shine. Then she speed towards the wolf. She swung her sword at the monster and a wave of light flew off the blade. The wolf tried to dodge but it hit it's leg and sliced it clean off. Sarah then noticed something very strange. The monster wasn't regenerating. "It is not possible to regenerate when slashed by this sword," said Destiny. "Next up is **FLASH CROSS**," said Sarah. At that point a large cross then appeared on the tip of her sword and wings appeared on her feet. "**FLASH CROSS, ACTIVATE**." She launched at the enemy pointing the sword with the cross at the wolf at such an amazing speed that the area around her tore itself up due to the shockwave she gave of when passing. She not only pierced the wolf, she went through it. The wolf was cut up into quarters from the cross like slash. Like the first sword slash, it did not regenerate.

The wolf Monster then put up a barrier around itself to keep its enemies at bay. "Come over here Sarah," said Lee, "Okay, can you do another one of those flying slash things." "Sure," said Sarah. "Good," said Lee, "Do one when I say go and once you have launched it, get behind me immediately. Is that Clear." "Yes," said Sarah. Sarah launched her **BRIGHT SLASH** at the dome barrier and it seemed to weaken but didn't break. "Okay, Haruno, **SHOOTING MODE**." Haruno changed into it's shooting mode. Then a huge city-block wide golden Magic circle appeared under Lee as magic gathered into the staff. Then three huge rings appeared in front of the staff like a giant gun barrel. "Okay, here it goes. **PURE LIGHT **_**BREAKER!!!!!!!!"**_A huge blast of magic is shot straight at the barrier, which just shatters to smithereens, and it hits the monster straight on. It is blasted to oblivion and once again, Lee destroyed a quarter of the city and turns it into a crater. All that's left was a small blob with the Saren Stone in it. Lee turns his staff into sealing mode and seals it away quickly. "Saren Stone 24 received," said Haruno.

Just then, Chrono, Sakura, Nanoha and Lance In his human form came flying over. As they did, Lee fell to the ground but was caught by Sarah who helped him to the ground safely. They all crowed around them. "What the hell happened here," asked Chrono looking at what was a city and now looked like a barren wasteland. "And who is that next to you Lee," said Nanoha. "First of all, you already know her. This is Sarah," said Lee. "Since when did Sarah have magical powers," asked Chrono. "Since about 5 minutes ago," said Sarah. "I still have no clue what they exactly are. I am actually in shock at what I just did but why I was doing it, it felt so natural." Lee then said, " A giant Wolf monster spawned by the stone just came out of nowhere and…" Lee explained what had happened and how Sarah magic awakened and how she helped defeat the monster. "By the way, I noticed a barrier was put up all over the city," said Lee. Lance replied, "We didn't know exactly where you were so I just made a barrier cover the entire town so I knew it would cover you." "Thanks," said Lee. Nanoha then says, "That must have been one intense battle you had to cause all this. Sorry I couldn't help, we had trouble getting here 'cause we couldn't teleport for some reason.

Lance seemed to be tiring out fast from the extra-large barrier so Nanoha gave him some of her power and he seemed to be re-energized. He then cast Magical restoration to fix everything. It took a while due to the extent of the damages. After everything was taken care of, Lance asked them to release their Barrier jackets. Sarah's whitish-blue marble BRIGHT DESTINY formed a necklace and placed itself around Sarah's neck. "By the way Lance, you know you have the same name as that ferret Nanoha's got," said Sarah. "Actually…" and Lance turned into his Ferret form and said out loud, "I was the ferret, see," Sarah was surprised by this by then said it was cool. Lance then finally let down the barrier and returned them to normal space-time.

"Oh my gosh, Lee," said Sarah, "Were late for getting back. We wasted too much time on this battle." Lee said, "Look at you watch." She did and it said 4:35. "Holy crud, it is still the same time as when this all began. Now that is Bizarre. Finally Lee and Sarah went home and just in time for their mother to be putting dinner on the table.


	9. Chrono's Determination

The Haruno Chronicles

CH. 9 This and the next chapter are to show off the other characters that seem to have disappeared as of a few chapters ago. BUT THEY CONTAIN VITAL STORY INFO. DO NOT SKIP

Disclaimer: All rights to all material, names, characters, places ect… go to their respectful owners.

Chapter 9 – Chrono's Determination

The next day, Sarah went over to Sakura's house to get her explanation. Nanoha as she was living at Sakura's house no longer lived in the forest and Lance was staying there as Nanoha's pet. He didn't mind this, as he liked being a ferret. Sometimes when he was at home he would just change into a ferret because he found that he was relaxed when he did. Sarah was told the story front to back. She was actually very smart and sensible for her age (Thus her getting the scholarship to boarding school) so she could handle the story. When they got up to the point of where she came into the picture, she had a pretty good idea about what was happening.

She then asked the question, "So am I allowed to help or not." Everyone thought for a moment and then Nanoha said, "I think Lee should decide. He is her big brother and was also the only one who saw what she could do. I think he is also the ONLY ONE who has the right to decide." "Please Lee," Sarah said reputedly. "I promise to be careful." Lee thought for a few minutes. He was worried but knew after he saw her that she would be all right. "Alright," said Lee, "You can help but under two conditions. The first is that you won't go into battle until you finish training yourself with Nanoha and Lance. The second one is that you have to promise me that you won't do something completely stupid and get yourself severely injured or worse. I wouldn't know what to tell mom and she would give me hell and go all ballistic and such. Do you agree?" Sarah was quick to reply with a loud YES.

"Shall we get started now then," said Lance. "I'm game for that," said Sarah so they all held onto Lance who teleported them to the old campsite where everyone else had trained. No one noticed that they left the house because no one was there at the time. And so the training began. The first part was seeing what she could do. When all was finished with, she had the exact same capabilities as Lee except she had one more wide area attack and one less mid range attack than Lee. This meant she would be good against many enemies as well. She also had his out of battle powers like limited mind reading and the ability to move stuff with her mind except she couldn't use his Immobilization power. Lance pointed out when they were talking about their similarities that family usually had similar powers to each other. She also seemed to have a good amount of control. She learned faster than the others did. She had it all down by sundown

Then Chrono butted in, "Hey everyone, I want to show you something." They were all curious so they stepped back and watched as he transformed. "Okay Black Falcon, **F****lare****S****hot****D****rive**, ACTIVATE." His staff then changed into a weird looking spear with what looked like a burning blue point. The point came out of a barrel behind it, which also seemed to have two thrusters. "Okay, now watch this. **O****ver****B****laze****S****triker** **IGNITE."** Chrono's thrusters shot him off at an amazing speed into the air, and then he aimed at what was more of a rock hill than a boulder. "**TARGET SHOT, FIRE.**" He shot a small blast of magic at the hill, which didn't impress anyone. "What are you doing Chrono," said Lance and thinking that it wouldn't be impressive, slackened the barrier a bit feeling relaxed. "**AIM SET, O****ver****B****laze****S****trike**** DRIVER, **_**GO!!!**_" He shot at the ground so fast that no one could see it, "**IMPACT" **when he hit the ground. A shockwave of immense heated blue magical energy shot through the air all around him. "EVERYONE DOWN," said Lance who but up his strongest barrier around them which withstood the attack. When everyone got up, they were in disbelief. The ENTIRE FOREST had been leveled. It even got the forest outside the barrier as the attack shattered the barrier to bits as easily as wet tissue.

"Holy SHIT, What was that," said Lee in amazement. "That was Over Blaze Striker." "Well it was crazy awesome," said Lee. Lance had been knocked out when his barrier got smashed to smithereens by the attack. "Now look at the hill," said Chrono. They did except there was no hill; there was just a giant crater that seemed to be very deep. Lance then recovered and got up. "At least warn me if you're going to unleash something like that," said Lance who seemed annoyed. "Well to be honest, that was the first time I have ever used that attack," said Chrono. "_WHAT!"_ said everyone, "how did you know about it then." "Well Black Falcon told me just now so I gave it a try." Lance then said to everyone that Chrono's device probably wanted to teach him and thought that this controlled environment was probably the best place in its opinion. Lance then magically repaired the area and dispelled the illusion he put up just incase his barrier got broken (which was smart thinking).

Everyone then headed home except Chrono who was asked to stay behind for a bit. "Chrono," said Nanoha, " come over here, I want to show you something." So Chrono went over with Nanoha to a deep part of the woods where no one could see them. "I need to tell you something." Nanoha then activated her device and transformed. "**EXCELLION MODE**," said Nanoha and her staff changed into a spearhead similar to Chrono's. "I have a similar ability with raging heart and I needed to explain something to you. Attacks with these are most powerful but you need to be careful. I am pretty sure you already know this by now but after you are done with them, you are completely drained of power for a while. The point of this is for you to know that you shouldn't use it carelessly. Okay Chrono?" "Okay and thanks for the advice."

The next thing they knew, the sky went black and a tree in front of them started to grow at an insane rate until it was as tall as a skyscraper. "Lance," said Nanoha telepathically, "Put up a barrier over the entire city right now." "Consider it done," said Lance. They both saw a barrier go over the entire city. "**POWER CHARGE,**" said Nanoha and Chrono felt his power restore itself from Nanoha's Magic. "Lets do this Chrono," said Nanoha. "Okay," said Chrono while transforming.

They both started flying straight at the monster tree. The tree seemed to spawn little trees that could move. "Okay, Black Falcon, any other moves you would like to tell me about." Black Falcon replied, " Crash Shot." "Okay," and Chrono pointed his staff at the oncoming tree army, "**CRASH SHOT**." He shot a blast of magic at the tree army. It exploded on contact making all trees around the one hit explode. Unfortunately, it only made a dent in the growing army. They now started shooting wood spikes at them that hurt a lot. "**ROUND SHIELD** and **WARRIOR ARMOR,**" said Chrono and he deflected the wood spikes. Then he started to glow blue with armor like aura. "I need a better attack FALCON. They started to become surrounded by the army. "**AXCEL MODE**," said Nanoha and her staff changed back to its normal form. "**AXCEL SHOOTER, FIRE!**" Nanoha shot a flurry of shots all around them, "**SPLIT SHOTS."** Now all the shots Nanoha fired now split into many smaller shots so a ton of Small shots Shot at the army all around them and cleared a path for them.

They ran for the large tree. Then Nanoha flew up into the air and Chrono followed. "Chrono, cover me. I am going to find the source with some search magic but I am defenseless when doing it." "Okay, I will protect you." "Try INFERNO CANNON," said Black Falcon. "**BLUE** **INFERNO CANNON**," said Chrono and he unleashed a ray of flaming blue magic from his staff. He found that he could move the staff while firing so he spun around once while firing it to hit them all. He succeeded in making a good dent in the army. "Okay, Chrono you okay. I found it. It is at the base of the tree in the back. You will need to hit it there, I will stay back and cover you and so I can seal it whit I get the chance. Now go," said Nanoha. "Okay," Chrono thought to himself, "I can't useOVER BLAZE STRILER. I do not have enough power for that." "Use MWD master." "MWD?" said Chrono, "Okay, **M****ass****W****eapons****D****river**, **activate,**" and his staff changed into a Hilt. Then a large blade made of Blue Magic came out of the hilt. Chrono thought he wouldn't be able to use it due to his size but when he picked it up, it felt as light as a feather.

The Swords blade seemed to be burning as well. It was giving of some heat. Chrono charged forward and found that he could cut through the enemy no problem. He liked the sword but thought to himself how cool it would be if it was an axe. As if it was liked to his thoughts, the sword blade disappeared and was replace by a pole with an axe head at the top, which was made of his magic. "Whoa," said Chrono. "It can become your weapon of choice but you cannot use any spells. Your physical attributes are also enhanced," said FALCON. "Cool. Its like I have every weapon I can think of." He continued through to the back of the tree. Then another army of tree's came at him from behind. "**DIVINE **_**BUSTER!**_**" **Nanoha shot her attack from her staff (Now in Buster Mode) at the tree's, which got blown to bits. With his increased speed, he flew quickly to the back of the tree. He tried chopping it with the axe but the tree just grew the parts back to replace the ones chopped off. The same thing happened with the sword mode.

"Guess I have no choice. I have to do it in one, Nanoha, get ready with the sealing. Okay, **FSD, Activate,"** and Chrono's Spear type staff came out. "**OVER BLAZE STRIKER IGNITE," **and the blue flaming point came out. The thrusters shot him into the air. He aimed carefully, "**TARGET SHOT, FIRE**." It hit on the mark making a small hole in the tree, which recovered. "Nanoha, make it quick after I launch." "Don't do it. You don't have enough power left. Be sensible about this Chrono," said Nanoha with a scared expression on her face. "Its Okay, I can do this. I will not be defeated," said Chrono, "**AIM SET."** "Don't Chrono, you'll die," yelled Nanoha looking terrified at the thought of what Chrono was about to do. "Don't worry," said Chrono, "I refuse to die, **OBS** **DRIVER, **_**GO!!!!!!"**_ Chrono shot himself at the large tree. Its branches tried to get in the way but burned up on contact. He hit the tree full force, "**IMPACT."** The tree exploded on contact and a flaming blue shockwave shot out from the point of contact disintegrating the entire army of trees.

The only part of the Large Tree that was left was a small chunk of it and in the middle was visibly the Saren Stone. "**SEALING MODE,"** said Nanoha and her staff changed into its sealing mode and the large wings came out. "SEAL IT." RAGING HEART sealed it up no problem. As the stone was absorbed into RAGING HEART, it said, "Number 22, sealed." "CHRONO!" Nanoha yelled out over and over again. She went over to the craters edge and down in the center, Chrono was standing, leaning on his staff, which had a few cracks that were slowly healing. "Chrono!" said Nanoha in relief, "I was so worried about you. That was an insanely stupid thing you just did. Stupid, stupid, stupid. You could of died." "If my WARRIOR ARMOR hadn't been activated, I probably would of died but the thing is, it WAS activated so no worries," said Chrono.

At this point, everyone came flying at them in the crater. "Are you two all right," said Lee and Lance in unison. "We are okay," said Chrono, "but I have defiantly felt better." "That is good to hear," said Lee. Lee then went over and healed Chrono's wounds with his magic. When he was done, Chrono could walk again normally. "I've healed you wounds bit you need to get some rest." Lance used MAGICAL RESTORATION to fix the battle site to what it was before hand (again). Then Lance asked everyone to return to normal so everyone released their barrier jackets and staffs. When everyone had finished this, he released the barrier and then collapsed from exhaustion. Sakura then asked everyone to hold hands and teleported them to Chrono's large back yard. Then they brought Chrono inside and due to Lee's treatment, only looked like he had over exerted himself so his parents didn't ask about it thinking he had just had a long and tiring day.

When they got to Chrono's excessively large room, they helped Chrono walk over to his bed where he collapsed from exhaustion. He fell straight to sleep. "Okay, please explain what happened Nanoha. We saw the giant tree but the power from the Saren Stone stopped us from teleporting there," asked Lee and Lance in Unison. With this, Nanoha told everyone in excessive detail what had happened with battle footage provided by Raging Heart. This was one of Raging hearts special features. She showed them the entire battle and brought them up to date on what happened. They were all amazed at what happened but decided to leave it at that as so to let Chrono sleep in peace.


	10. Sakura's Courage

The Haruno Chronicles

CH. 10 This chapter is dedicated to Sakura and her prowess. Other possibilities also present themselves

Disclaimer: All rights to all material, names, characters, places ect… go to their respectful owners.

Chapter 10 – Sakura's Courage

The day after Chrono's battle. They all went over to his house. On their way up to his room, his parents stopped them all to ask what happened yesterday to make him so exhausted. Nanoha made up an elaborate story about how he unavoidably missed a bus back home and had to run the 22 blocks to their meeting place, so he didn't make them wait to long. They seemed to buy it so they let them continue up to his room. He was still in bed even though it was 1 O'clock in the afternoon. Nanoha made sure to tell Chrono the details for the lie she told his parents in case they ask. This would make it sound less suspicious when he answered. Then they all congratulated him on his impressive victory. Then Sakura did something totally unexpected. She went up to him and slapped him in the face. Chrono also replied to this very unexpectedly. He said, "Thanks, I probably deserved that. Sorry." "Just don't be so stupid in the future, OKAY," said Sakura with a hidden expression of sadness and fear.

After Sakura knocked some sense into Chrono, he seemed to liven up a bit. To make him feel as good as new, Lance used a special healing spell to restore Chrono's stamina. After that, he felt good as new. Unfortunately, Lance had fainted from fatigue the day before and could not heal Chrono yesterday. It was all Lee could do to get Chrono to be able to walk which of itself was impressive taken into account what had transpired in that battle. He felt good about all the attention but as to not give lack of credit, he told them that it would not have been possible if Nanoha hadn't been there to provide help and to actually seal the stone. Nanoha thanked him for his kind words and then Lance said he had something to discuss with them all.

He pointed out that for the last few battles, only a few of them were there to actually take care of it. The Saren Stones seemed to have the power to put up a ATF or anti transport field so it made it so that they couldn't just teleport to the scene of the crime. During her training, Sarah proved that she couldn't seal so they made a point of stating that only Nanoha and Lee and if ABSOLUTLY necessary Lance could actually seal the Saren Stones. This led to a group decision. If outside their houses, they would be in groups at all times. That group would have to include Lee, Nanoha or the combination of Sakura and Lance. The third group was so that Sakura could maintain the Barrier while Lance sealed the stone. Lance couldn't due both at once.

Next on Lances list was their strategy for when they were not all there. They decided on a play it safe tactic and said that each group needs to have someone good with support fire from afar so that meant that they would try to destroy it long distance. The exception would be Chrono who would just go ballistic why receiving support fire. Lance had taught Chrono a way to make it so that he had super enhanced stats every time he transformed. He also taught this method to Lee but only to them because they were the only ones who could handle it. It required super good close combat capabilities and Lance thought that Sarah was too young for her to handle it yet. After that was all decided, everyone decided to spend the rest of the day at Chrono's house.

They spent the whole day just hanging out at Chrono's place until it was time to go home. Nanoha had already left to go to the Library and Sakura was already asleep so Lance decided to teleport her back to her house. When they got there, Sakura woke up realizing she was on Lee's back. She blushed for a moment and then thanked him for bringing her home. She always got embarrassed when Lee carried her home. Lee actually did it quite often as Sakura fell asleep at Chrono's quite often. Just then the sky turned dark and something approached in the darkness. A black blob then Appeared from the bushes. The blob then transformed into a person. The only thing was that the person had no face and was grey skinned.

Both of them backed away quickly and Sakura telepathically asked Lance to put up a Barrier over the whole town so she could concentrate on fighting instead. She saw the Barrier go up and then both of them transformed. Lee then changed his staff into a sword. Sakura flew back quickly as Lee went straight for the fake person. The Person dodged and shot 2 blasts of magic at Lee. Lee dodged and to his amazement dodged them at a super fast rate. The enhancement Lance did seemed to work very well. Then it fired a whole bunch of blasts all at once. Just then CERENITY said, "Try **RAPID SCARLET SHOOTER**." "Sakura aimed her staff at the blasts. "**RAPID SCARLET SHOOTER." **She found that they shot at her will and she could shoot as many as she wanted. She also found when she transformed, she had super enhanced senses. She aimed carefully shot the blasts from the enemy and in rapid succession, shot them all down.

Lee then tried to cut the enemy up again. This enemy was more agile than the ones before them. It dodged and if sliced, he could regenerate a limb. He just couldn't manage to get a good swing at the heart though. After realizing this, he backed up and changed his staff into shooting mode. "**SHINNING BUSTER." **His attack missed and he willed it to change directions and it turned just grazing the person. Its arm was blown off but it regenerated quickly. Then he shot some glowing shooters at it and it did something strange. It collected the blasts and shot them all back as one large attack. Lee wasn't prepared for this and got hit badly. "LEE!" said Sakura and she went over to him and tried to heal him. He healed well enough but he appeared to use up most of his power on deflecting the fatal damage of the attack. He said all he had left for was to seal it.

Sakura told him to sit and that she would take care of the rest. She turned to the person and launched more of the blasts at it. It dodged them easily but Sakura wasn't about to give up there. "Change mode, FIRING TYPE," said Sakura and her staff head changed into a small cannon barrel. "Try **SCARLET FURY BUSTER,"** said CERENITY. A large red magic circle appeared under Sakura. "**SCARLET," **the staff started gathering red colored magical energy into the barrel of the staff, "**FURY,"** she aimed it straight at the target, "_**BUSTER!!!!!"**_ a wave of immense red colored magical energy shot out of the staff. It dodged it but the wave of magic changed course with it. It tried to dodge it again but the blast was too fast for it and they collided. It put up a shield but it pierced it and hit the thing straight on. It fell to the ground but then got up.

"What is it going to take to beat this guy," Sakura kept thinking to herself. I need a different move. "Try **Crimson Bind**," said CERENITY. "**CRIMSON BIND,"** and the thing stopped moving. It had red rings around its legs, arms and throat. Okay, try this, "**PLATNIUM SCARLET SMASHER." **With the bind still in effect, it couldn't dodge so the attack made a direct hit. "**POWER EXTENTION,"** said Sakura. The attack doubled in power as it just bombarded the fake person thing. When the attack died down, Sakura's staff released a lot of steam out the back. When she looked at the spot where the thing was she was shocked. It was still there without a scratch. "You shouldn't still be alive after that much less unscathed," said Sakura kind of annoyed.

It went into a rampage of blasts shooting one after another at Sakura. She got hit with them all as she was pretty drained of power. She was getting tired and scared at this point. It just seemed impossible or her to defeat it. She also had to worry about Lee who would already be pushing it by reserving power for the sealing. It was all she could do to try and deflect some of the blasts. "**RAPID SCARLET SHOOTER." **She now intercepted the blasts with her own. It was a furious battle of blasts as they matched evenly, neither Sakura of the fake Person were giving an inch. They just stayed locked in combat.

Then it flew away and put its hand into the air. It charged up a large blast and shot it straight at Sakura. "**CRIMSON SHOT,"** Sakura said and launched an equally large blast of red magic at the monster. Then Sakura's keen senses saw it, the Saren Stone was in its heart. The only problem was that she couldn't hit it. "Master, try **H****igh****P****owered****S****niper**** Mode,"** said CERENITY. Sakura then flew to the ground. "**HPS Mode, ACTIVATE."** Sakura's staff changed; its head changed into a small point surrounded by a long gun barrel that still left the point exposed and the staff now had a handle and aiming scope attached to it. It felt impressive to Sakura. "Use **C****rimson****S****niper****S****hot ****DRIVER," **suggested CERENITY. "**CSS DRIVER, START.**" The point started to shine red and a super large magical circle appeared under Sakura. "**RED DOT BEAM, SHOOT,"** the point shot out a small but concentrated beam of red magic that pierced the enemy leaving a non-fading trail behind it. It also made the enemy immobile and defenseless. "**CSS, **_**FIRE!!!!!"**_ A large wave of pure red-crimson magical energy shot out of the staff and straight toward the enemy. It was following the RED DOT BEAM's trail so it hit it right in the heart. It blew it to oblivion with the power of the attack and it couldn't regenerate after being hit in the heart. It also tore apart the surrounding landscape and anything else in the immediate vicinity leaving a large trail of damage as it past. The only thing left was the Saren Stone. Lee with the last of his power sealed it away quickly. "Number 22, sealed," said HARUNO

Lee was so exhausted of energy that his Barrier Jacket and his staff released on their own. Sakura rushed over. "**MAIDENS HEALING."** Sakura activated the spell and healed most of Lee's injuries. Lee now only felt very tired but luckily not in pain. "Fine job Sakura. That was very courageous of you to go into battle all by yourself. Didn't know you had it in you to fight like that," said Lee. "Well," said Sakura, " to be honest, neither did I. It just happened. I just felt an urge to fight and went along with that." Just then Lance, Nanoha and Sarah come flying in all suited up for battle in their barrier jackets and Lance with his spells at the ready. "So did we miss all the action," said Sarah. "Afraid so," said Lee. "Wish you could have been there, it was a real BLAST if you get my drift." "You should have seen Sakura fight," said Lee, "She was on fire, I tell ya. She went head to head with it and came out on top. Wish I could of helped more but I got cheap shotted by my own blasts and got pretty banged up. I tell you it was the cheapest thing I ever heard of. If he was going to blast me, he could have at least had the manners to do it himself." "It's okay," said Sakura, " You helped in the beginning a lot. I was scared stiff then and couldn't do anything. You inspired me to fight really."

After they all released their weapons and Barrier jackets, Lance healed the area and released the barrier. "Where is Chrono?" asked Lee. Nanoha replied, "He is still a little worn out from yesterday so he couldn't leave his house. Also I don't think his parents would let him. They think he must be sick or something but he is technically fine now. Lance saw to that." They all headed to Chrono's house where they were greeted by Chrono's parents. They let them through this time without question but said how lovely it was that Chrono had so many good friends. When they got to Chrono's room, he was in a chair playing a video game on his TV. He turned it off when they entered and went straight up to them and asked what happened and who fought ect… Lee and Sakura told him what had happened. Chrono was surprised to find out how good Sakura could fight. He quietly resolved to not do anything stupid around her again in fear of what could come of it. Later everyone went home. Lee needed Sarah to teleport him home due to his extreme exhaustion. He went straight to bed as soon as he got home.


	11. Father and Son

The Haruno Chronicles

CH. 11 The father comes home and we get new fight started. Lee finally learns the proper way to use a sword and even some cooler otherworldly techniques. There is more to life than magic.

Disclaimer: All rights to all material, names, characters, places ect… go to their respectful owners.

Chapter 11 – Father and Son

A few days had passed since Sakura and Lee's battle with no Saren Stones being found since then. Lance had thought he sensed one once but the feeling vanished as soon as it came and since no one else felt it, he dismissed it as his imagination. It was mid-way through the school-week and today was Bring Your Pet To School Day. Naturally, Nanoha convinced Lance to come in his ferret form. The truth is he actually wanted to see what Nanoha's and the other's school was like so he decided to go. He was a big hit during the pet show-and-tell. Due to the fact that he could understand what everyone was saying, when they asked him do some fun tricks, he did them right away and amazed his audience. He even went up to a cat. This was a daring move, as normal ferrets would have run away from cats due to the fact that normally, they would have been eaten. Luckily, its animal instincts told it that this wasn't a normal ferret so it did not try to pounce lance. Everyone was in awe by the ferret's bravery.

At the end of the day, everyone went home. According to the plan, everyone was supposed to be with a person who could seal whenever out of the house. The exception was when Chrono was going home. He had to go one his own sometimes so he just teleported strait home so nothing could happen in-between. When Lee got home, Sarah was already there and holding a letter from Hong-Kong. It was addressed to both of them. It said:

_Dear Lee and Sarah,_

_Sorry I have been gone for almost 2 months now without calling or writing. Due to my work this time, I wasn't allowed to have contact with anyone for the duration of the assignment. It was a security measure. I cannot disclose more information about the assignment in a letter so I will tell you when I get home, which if this letter got to you on time means tomorrow. I should be on the plane by now if you got this on Wednesday. See you when I get home. _

_Love, Dad_

_P.S. – I hope you two have been practicing you sword techniques while I have been away. I WILL be looking forward to a sparring match when I get home so be prepared._

"I was wondering when Dad was coming home. Guess I will have to tell them that there was no fencing club for girls at my school. Hope he buys it." At the P.S. part of the letter, Lee looked a little worried. The truth was that he had never really practiced that much. It sort of slipped his mind with everything else that had been happening. On the other hand, all of the fighting he did was training too. Also, he could also enhance his regular abilities with magic a little and make it look like he was training vigorously.

Both Lee and Sarah were anxious to get out of school and go home to see their Dad. It was more exciting for Sarah because Dad had also been away the last time she had visited. When the school bell rang, Sarah went to Lee's school to go home with him. Sarah' elementary school let out 15 minutes earlier so she had to wait on the steps of Great Triumph Junior High for her brother. When Lee got out of school, Sarah dragged him almost forcefully behind the school and before Lee was ready for it, she teleported and reappeared in the woods near their house. They ran to their house and when they got home, sure enough, there was another pair of familiar shoes at the door way. They ran inside and to the dojo and there was their father, warming up for a sparring session. Sarah yelled and ran over to hug him. Then Lee went over and hugged him too. "How have you been you two," said Dad. "Good Mr. what is it this time?" Lee's father real name was Jonathan but he always had a different name when on duty and it was always different. "It was Smithson this time but you guys can still call me Dad if you don't mind."

The sparring began and even though she gave him the excuse about her inability to practice, their father said she should just try to do her best. She wasn't actually as bad as she made out to be. Sure their father was going easy on her and it was with wooden swords, but his "easy" would probably be enough to kill an average person. She lasted 5 minutes, a new record. Dad said that it was good improvement.

Now Lee was up. He had already activated the enhancement. He did the smallest one possible as to not look suspicious. He picked up his wooden sword and bowed to his Dad who bowed back. "I wont be going easy on you," said Lee. His Dad replied with, "Let's just see how much you've improved." They started. When their swords collided the first time, Dad was unprepared for the strength of Lee's blow and almost lost his grip on his sword. "Seems like you HAVE been practicing after all. Guess I will take it up a notch." His father made a quick swing at Lee, which he blocked with equal speed. Then Lee went on the offensive making swing after swing at his dad who blocked them all.

"You've come a long way since last time. DO you want to beat me that badly." It was true. Lee hated to lose at anything. On the other hand, so did his Dad. It proved to be a good motivator. They continued going at it. Lee didn't realize it but his father was slowly going harder and harder and he was unconsciously using his magic to match his fathers skill. It eventually came to the point where their swords were going so fast that they were just blurs to Sarah who was watching in amazement. The sounds of the swords clashing made a thundering roar through the neighborhood. What neither Lee or his Dad could realize was that they were also gaining speed. After 20 minutes (12 past his previous record) they were both moving at what could be considered beyond normal human speed.

Lee had only seen his father once go all out in a national Kendo competition. It was the Last round and he was against the former undefeated champ. Also on that same day, it was mom's birthday and we had dinner reservations so he wanted to finish it as soon as possible. It was over in less than a second. He took his stance with his sword drawn back and his other hand on its tip. When the ref said Go, it looked like he had disappeared for a second. Next thing anyone knew, he was out of the ring at the judges table. He then took the belt and walked out the door. At this point, his opponent fell to the ground. When they went over to examine the body, it had slash marks all over the chest guard and helmet. What was more was that the opponent's wooden sword was smashed into pieces. He appeared at the top of the audience 5 minutes later and said to them, "Who's ready to eat." They then left the arena for the restaurant quickly to avoid the reporters. When they got to the restaurant. There was a re-run of the finals. As with the reality, it was over in a second. The people over at the next table said that it was over too quick and they should of at least played it in slow-mo so they could see. The announcer on the TV then said that the footage just played was the slow-mo version as slow as possible at 1/100 of a second ratio. The people at the other table said to their children that this was a practical joke by the TV station to replace their mess-up or something (This wasn't true.)

Lee continued to strike wooden blades with his Dad. It continued for almost 30 minutes. They just kept on getting better and better until Lee thought that his father was at his max. He planed to try and swing around from behind on the next blow but he couldn't. To Lee surprise, his dad stepped back for a second. He knew he had taken the same stance he did that one time at the finals. The next thing he knew, his fathers sword was so close to his neck that if it had gone any farther, he would have most likely have been dead. Another thing was that his sword had been cut in two, sliced by his fathers. "That's Match," said his father, now looking exhausted. They both leaned up against the wall, exhausted after their duel. "Well," said Lee's dad, "At least we both know that you have improved. That was probably the hardest duel I've fought in a while. It was one of the only ones that ever **forced** me to go all out, if only for the final move. You have improved faster than I could've imagined. Then again, you are MY son." Lee then said, almost out of breath, "What was that final move you used." His dad replied, "Ah, that move. It's called Zero Tenshi. It is a move that I invented. Distance, time, failure, they all become Zero when using this technique. It is a thrust and slash combo. It goes so fast that the force that the weapon hits with is multiplied by a million. Theoretically, if you didn't hold back like I did, you could kill someone with a blade of grass. Now imagine what would happen if I didn't know how to hold back. You could of died. Then again, that's what happens when you are strong." Lee just looked at his father with complete admiration.

Lee, Sarah, and their Dad left the dojo and went into the living room. Lee had to lean on his father to walk. When they got into the living room, they both collapsed on the couch. Then their mother came into the room. She saw both the father and son collapsed on the couch. She asked what had happened. His father replied with "sparring." She asked why they were both tired and he replied with "I found a good sparring partner." He then asked her how long Lee trained per day. She said she never saw him once train in the house but he was out of the house for almost all the day so he probably did his practicing somewhere else. His father said he did the same thing when he was a kid. It felt better to do it outside. Lee said that was what he was doing. It wasn't a complete lie either; he had been training his magic and fighting the beasts spawned by the Saren stones.

They ate dinner then Lee asked his father to go into the dojo with him. "So what is it Lee?" asked Dad. "I want you to teach me that move. I want to learn ZERO TENSHI," said Lee. "Now why do you want to learn that move," his father said, "That is a dangerous technique not to be used in duels. If you don't do it perfectly, you could end up tearing you muscles apart. I can use it because I can stop it before it becomes fatal but that took a lot of training." "I need it to become stronger," said Lee. "And why is it you want to become stronger," said his father. "I can't tell you exactly why," his father looked suspicious at this, "All I can say is that I need more power to protect." His father looked at him for a bit. He looked straight into his eyes. To Lee, it felt like he was looking through him more than at him. "All right," he said, "I will teach it to you under one condition. You can only use it to protect and nothing more. Is that clear." "Yes," said Lee. "Lets Begin"

Lee imagined it would be hard but it was 1000x as hard as he thought it would be. His father started of with telling Lee the mechanics of the attack. It started off in a special Kendo style thrust position with the right hand holding the sword back so the hilt was even with your face. The left hand would be on the top part of the tip of the sword. This was so the sword would stay still during the initial charge. If it moved at all, the entire technique would fall apart. Next was the Leg position. They had to be positioned exactly. The left leg would be 3 feet in front of the right leg. The right leg would be diagonal back right of the left leg. Both legs had to be bent, the left one slightly more than the right. Then came the initial charge. You had to push of with both feet at once by twitching your muscle in a certain way. Then you did an extra step. You moved your right leg forward as fast as possible and hit the ground with it with all you got. You hit with the heal first and then the front of the foot. You then twitched you foot in a way that uses 80% of the muscles power (At normal, a person only uses 20% of the muscles strength at most. This combination was what produced the speed required for the attack. Everything had to be perfect down to a millimeter or the aerodynamics of the attack would be thrown off and the attack would ultimately fail. Then as soon as you are charging, the rest is so fast, it beats even time itself. There is no way to describe it. You have to leave it up to your instincts to know what to do. This is the part that confused Lee. Then finally, you have the end. This is the important part. If messed up, you would damage your muscle tissue to an extreme extent. What you did was the exact opposite of the extra step. You put your left leg out and hit the ground with the front of the foot first at medium strength to slow down and then slam your heal down with enormous strength to actually stop. As long as you did that with your left foot, you could stop in any position you wanted. Now everything in this technique had to be done in the space of ½ a second and the thrust had to be done in 0 seconds. That was how fast the technique was. The ½ a second was for pushing off and stopping only.

Over the next 3 days, Lee did nothing else than train on that technique. He barley slept even. Lee got down the positioning in just a couple of hours but that was the easy part. It took him the better part of 2 days to get the extra step part down and charge at zero time. It was an incredible sensation; you felt nothing, heard nothing and except for the target, you saw nothing. It took Lee only one day to learn how to stop. His father set up a crash mat so he could practice without getting hurt if he failed. The only part he had trouble with was the actual attack. His father said that once you got control of it, you could do as many slashes as you wanted but to actually learn the technique, you had to focus on learning the thrust part only. The slashes will come naturally after that. He tried as hard as he could but he couldn't make the initial thrust. The target was the heart of the opponent of in this case, the target on the practice dummy. The problem that Lee had was that he didn't know when in Zero time do you do the thrust so he always passed right by the practice dummy before having a chance to move the sword. His father could only give him a bit of advice. "You have to feel it out." He asked feel it out with what. "Feel it out with the thoughts of why you even fight. Feel it out with your reason to protect." Lee didn't understand what that meant.


	12. True Origins

The Haruno Chronicles

CH. 12 The chapter name is really about swords, though this chapter is magic, and a little bit of sword as Lee tries to master Zero Tenshi.

Disclaimer: All rights to all material, names, characters, places ect… go to their respectful owners.

Chapter 12 – True Origins

Over the next week, the group found another Saren stone, Number 20. Nanoha, Sakura and Sarah had sealed it. When he asked them how it went, all they said was GO GIRLS. All Lee did during that week was train his ZERO TENSHI. He still couldn't do the initial thrust. When he went to Lance for help, he said he had never heard of such a technique, especially one that didn't use magic and thought it was an insane idea, an attack without magic so he couldn't help.

Lee had got the initial charge down, the extra step, and the stopping down now. Now they felt 2nd nature to him but he just couldn't get the hang of the initial thrust. He went up to his dad and asked if anyone besides him had ever mastered the technique to make sure it was possible. He said only one, Lee's older brother, Sora, who was in collage and was also training to work with his father, had mastered the technique. He also said that Sora learned it much like Lee did. His brother hadn't been home in two years due to a foreign exchange program at his collage to study abroad but he called home often. He learned the charge, the step and the stop without too much trouble in a short period of time but it took him a lot longer than that to learn the initial thrust. But he eventually did learn it after coming to a realization and now he can do it anytime and as often as he wants. Lee asked what that realization was and his father said, "Well, its unique to each person but its related to why you use the technique."

Several more days past and he started going to his friend's houses again. His father had suggested he stop training for a bit and go visit his friends. He also told Lee to think about what he had said. Lee's friends asked what exactly had he been doing. Lance couldn't grasp the idea of what Lee was doing so he couldn't tell them. Lee explained what he was trying to do. Everyone was amazed when he told them that the technique was non-magic. No one thought it possible until Lee got up and put in a tape of his dad's kendo match. All they saw was his dad take the stance, grab the trophy and watch the guy fall over with scratches on him as Lee's Dad left the arena. They all thought that the technique was inhuman but then he told them that his older brother had succeeded in learning the technique.

Lee and the others were going home when Lance finally came to the conclusion that he understood about how this technique was not magic. It turned out that there is no magic that can stop time so he was finally able to understand that it wasn't magic. When he finally was able to understand this, he found the technique fascinating. He was also able to then comprehend how difficult it must be to learn this technique. He told Lee good luck and went with Nanoha and Sakura to go back to their house. Lee and Sarah decided to walk home for once. Teleporting everyday made it lose its luster and got pretty boring after awhile. And so they started to walk home. They took the long way as they hadn't taken it in a long time and Sarah liked the view. During the walk, they ran into their Father out for an afternoon jog. He decided to walk home with them when suddenly; they both felt a dark presence unlike the Saren Stones. They both then told their father that they had forgotten stuff at their friends house and had to go back to get it and that he should go on ahead of them. They promised that they would be quick so they headed in the opposite direction while their father headed home. Then when they had walked far enough away, Lee asked Lance telepathically to put up a citywide barrier. He did and as it went up, they transformed into their barrier Jackets and their staffs appeared. Then, from out of nowhere, a girl appeared. She too had a staff. She then began to shoot them down.

Lee started at the person first. He tried hit her with his **BREAK IMPACT** attack but missed and made a large crater in the ground. Then he shot off some Glowing shooters but she dodged them all. "I know you are Human. Why are you attacking us?" Sarah shot her **PIERCING LIGHTS **straight at the enemy, which dodged them all. "**Second stage, BLIND DESTRUCTION,"** and the person got caught in the multiple explosions and got knocked through the air. "I need the Saren Stones. Please give them to me. I don't want to hurt you." She had a kind, soft voice but in it all, Lee could sense an extreme sadness. "Let's talk this out then, maybe we can work this out." "I cannot do that," she said, "Saren Stones cannot be given. They can only be won. That is their law and I cannot change that." "So are you saying that fighting is the only way?" "Yes," said the girl. "Then can I at least know your name?" "Fate, Fate Tesstorosa." "And I am Lee, Lee Cross," then he turned to Sarah, "stay back Sarah, This is between me and her." Sarah flew back as to give them room and said, "If it looks even slightly dangerous, I going to help you." "It is common courtesy to give your devices name before battle," said Fate, "mine is Baradiche." "Okay," said Lee, "Mine is Haruno."

Fate charged at Lee. A large yellow circle appeared under Fate. "**THUNDER SMASHER,"** Fate shot a ray of yellow, electrified magical energy at Lee. Lee changed his staff into shooting mode and a large gold circle appeared under him. "**SHINNING BUSTER,"** Lee unleashed an equally powerful ray of Gold magical energy at Fate. The two blasts collided and canceled each other out. Then Haruno then said to Lee, "Use **BLITZ SHOT."** "**BLITZ SHOT,"** Lee found that he was able to fire off many shots of his own will. These shots also seemed to be very fast and could be fired quickly. He repeatedly shot them toward Fate who then said, "**PLASMA LANCERS,**" and shot off an equal amount of yellow blasts to counter Lee's golden ones. "Take this," Lee said, "**BLITZ SHOT, TYPE 2."** Lee felt his magic gathering at the tip of his staff, "**FIRE**," and Lee shot off a rather large but still extremely fast blast of Magical energy. It went straight for Fate but fate put up a shield to block it and came out undamaged. "**HAWKEN FORM,"** said Fate. Her staff changed into a scythe with a blade made of yellow M.E. (magical energy). "So you want to do this up close and personal. Fine with me. **MSD, IGNITION START."** Now Lee's sword turned into a sword. They started going at it, exchanging Blows. Lee was easily able to dodge the swings due to this forms enhanced abilities but the same could be said for Fate. She was dodging them equally as fast. The battle escalated into the skies as they went at it.

Fate then flew back. "**HAWKEN SABRE,"** she launched the M.E. blade straight at Lee who used a wide area shield to block it du to its ability to turn in mid-air. He then swung his sword at her releasing a wave of M.E. at Fate who then made a new blade and cut it in half, thereby protecting herself. Next thing Lee knew, Fate was behind him and mad a swing for his neck. He did a quick teleport and reappeared behind her. He made a swing for her and finally managed to hit her, though it was only a scratch on her arm. "Why do you need the stones so badly," said Lee. "I cannot tell you," said Fate who then shot more **PLASMA LANCERS** at Lee who cut them all up very quickly.

Fate then fired off another **HAWKEN SABRE** that Lee dodged. Unfortunately, it headed straight for Sarah but she was ready. "**HBD mode, Activate."** Her staff changed into her short sword and she shot her **BRIGHT SLASH** at it and the two cancelled it out. Lee was running out of magic and so was Fate. They flew to the ground, too tired to fly and continued to fight. Then Fate disappeared for a second and the next thing Lee knew; Fate had a hold of Sarah with her staff at her throat. "Give up now and I will let her go. Please give up; I don't want to do this. Just then, someone shot a blast at fate from behind and hit her, forcing her to let go of Sarah. Everyone had arrived. Nanoha, Sakura, Chrono, and Lance were all there and ready for action. Then they all attacked Fate. Fate, outnumbered teleported away quickly and appeared on the ground behind Lee. Then Fate swung her sword at Lee from behind. He had no time to react. He thought it was all over when something happened. A very dark golden shield appeared out of nowhere between Lee and Fate. Lee thought it was one of his friends' barriers as he didn't put it up and so he got out of the way, not sure how long it would last. Fate didn't see this coming either and got repelled by the shield and shot back a few yards. Fate seemed annoyed at this.

"You wanted to do close combat," said Fate, "then lets do it. **ZAMBER MODE."** Her staff then changed into a giant long sword. "**A****nti****M****agicField**** ACTIVATE."** Now a different dome appeared in Lances barrier. Then suddenly, Everyone's Barrier Jacket disengaged and all magic disappeared. "It is impossible to use magic in this field. So what will you do?" "Everyone," said Lee, "Leave this to me. I will fight her on my own." Everyone stepped back and gave them room. They ran at each other. Lee was slower now but so was she. They clashed swords multiple times. Then she swung her large sword at Lee swinging it downwards. It hit the ground and to Lee's surprise, it made a crack in the ground that spread in all directions.

Lee was getting tired now. He had used up most of his stamina during the battle and was running out of strength to fight with. He also couldn't rely on his magic, as I couldn't be used in Fates **AMF. **Then the answer came to him. A technique that didn't use magic. A powerful one too but could he do it. Well he was out of options anyway so he pulled up his sword and got into the stance. He drew the hilt level to his face. Put his left hand on the blade tip and bent his legs. "Fate, I will try not to kill you. Sorry." "Just try," said Fate. "**ZERO TENSHI."** Lee started the charge that brought him into Zero time. Then as he started forward, the realization came to him, the reason for his using this attack. He used it as the last resort to protect his friends. Then he felt a pulse and his gut told him to go with it so he did. No one saw it; it just happened. Lee just disappeared and reappeared in a different spot. Then after a second, he said, "It's over." Fate collapsed and fell to the ground. She had slashes all over her body and a stab wound in her left arm. "I tried to avoid the heart," said Lee as Fate tried to get up. The **AMF** disappeared and their Barrier Jackets returned.

**ZERO TENSHI**, the technique taught in my family. It is not magic; it is swordsmanship, which was why I could use it inside Fate's anti magic space. "Ze-ro Ten-shi," said Fate, " I will remember that Lee Cross." And with that, she disappeared. Everyone ran over to Lee. "That was amazing Lee," said Sarah, "You did it. You finally pulled off **ZERO TENSHI**. Everyone was congratulating him on a good battle. Just then Lee butted in and said, "By the way, which of you put up that dark gold barrier. You really saved my butt out there. I thought I was a goner." Everyone looked around at each other. "I didn't do it," said Sarah. "Wasn't me," said Sakura. "Don't look at me," said Chrono. "All of my barriers are green," said Lance. "I didn't even have raging heart in Staff mode yet," said Nanoha. "Then who was it? It definitely wasn't me, right HARUNO." "You nor I put up a barrier," said HARUNO. "Well that's strange," said Lance, "barriers do not just erect themselves. Someone has to create it." With the mystery of the unknown barrier fresh in their minds, everyone headed home.


	13. Brothers

The Haruno Chronicles

Ch. 13 We get the final of the set as school ends and summer begins. The oldest brother finally makes his way home as the rest plan their next move. I would also like to mention something else. I forgot to mention this but all Move names in the sword styles are real words in either Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Korean (A friend at school helped me there) and One Latin in a few chapters. I wanted to spread it out a bit, give it some variation ect…

Disclaimer: Everything, material, characters, locations ect… are property of the respective people.

Chapter 13 – Brothers

Summer vacation was approaching fast. It was only 2 weeks until summer vacation started. Over the next 2 of those weeks, they only sensed one Saren Stone. But by the time they got there, Fate had already sealed it. Lance remembered something familiar happening about 3 weeks ago. He originally dismissed it as his imagination but he wasn't so sure anymore. Today, they were going to Sakura's house to discuss their next move. Lance decided to tell them then what he had surmised. He was pretty sure he was on the money with this theory.

When everyone arrived at Sakura's house, they headed for Nanoha's new room. Until now, she was sleeping in the guest room but they finally finished getting all the furniture and refurbishing a room next to Sakura's for Nanoha. It was slightly smaller than Sakura's but it had a TV, large 4-poster bed, walk-in closet complete with clothes and it's own bathroom. Nanoha loved it. There was also a very comfy pillow bed for Lance (while he is a ferret). Nanoha went in and jumped on the bed, happy with her new room. She still didn't get what the TV was for. She just couldn't grasp the idea of a physical screen. Lance had to explain that from where they came from, screens were intangible and could be manifested by magic alone. Lance showed them by making one appear in front of them. They were all (except Nanoha and Lance) in awe of this intangible screen.

They started talking about what to do about the girl named Fate. She too was a Sealer type and beyond that, she had excellent close to middle range combat skill. She was also very quick and good with multi shot attacks. To make things harder, she could make an **AMF **or Anti-Magic Field. This field cancelled all magic inside it. But it could be overcome in a few ways. One was a Massive strike from the outside could disrupt the field. Another would be the severely damage the user like what Lee had done. Unfortunately, Lee would probably be the only one who could do that with his **ZERO TENSHI** attack as it wasn't magic. The third way would be if another **AMF** were created around Fate's field. **AMF**'s cancel all magic inside them, another **AMF** is no exception but the disruption caused by the field cancellation would undoubtedly cause both fields to disappear. Lance told them that he could make an AMF but only for a few minutes if it was going to be that size. **AMF's** take up a lot of M.E. so most mages couldn't keep one up for long. Lance made a point of saying that AMF spell does have a maximum time limit of one hour regardless of the Mages power so you could also try to outlast it but this would not be practical. Also, another restriction of the AMF spell is that you can only use a second one at least an hour after the first one so her creating another AMF was unlikely. They could win against her as a team if they broke through the AMF.

Then Lance told them his theory. "Guys. I have some bad news," said Lance. "I think that Fate has more than 1 Saren stone." Everyone looked surprised at this statement. "What makes you say that," said Lee. "Well, a few weeks ago, I felt 2 Saren stones at different times but they disappeared quickly so I thought it was just me. But then we ran into Fate who was looking for Saren stones and it just so happens that she can seal them. She also seems to be adept at search magic because she was easily able to find Lee and Sarah who just so happen to have the Stones that are in HARUNO. I think we have to assume she was able to find and secure those two Saren stones so we should assume that at this time, she has 3 of them." "Make's sense to me," said Lee. "I say we go based on what Lance is saying," said Nanoha. So it was decided that they would decide their strategies based on Lances theory.

After they cleared a few issues up, everyone decided to go home for the day except for Lance, who said that he would patrol the city from the skies to keep an eye out for a Stones reaction. This way, they could react faster. He said he didn't mind this because why they were all fighting, all he had to do was hold up a barrier. It was actually harder than it sounded but he still insisted that this was the least he could do to help. Lee and Sarah, tired from school and from the rest of the day just teleported straight out of the room and into their rooms. They would be the only ones home at this time so no one would see them.

While they were watching TV, the house phone rang. It turned out to be Lee and Sarah's older brother, Sora who was currently at college. "How are you doing?" Sora said over the phone. "We are good," said Lee and Sarah in unison. "That is good. I just called to tell mom that I will be coming home the day summer vacation starts," said Sora. "Well mom is not here right now but we can tell her that for you." "That would be great. By the way, any news about Dad, this is the first time I called in 2 months so I am sort of out of the loop." "He is home right now and is going to be home for all of summer break. His next bodyguard assignment isn't until the winter so he is free." "That's good news. I need a good sparring session with someone. I don't have any real opponents on the colleges Kendo team, as I am the captain. It kind of gets boring after awhile." "Do you want to spar with me when you get home, I have gotten much better." "Okay, I'll spar with you after dad."

Both Lee and Sarah were excited; summer vacation started when school let out tomorrow and their brother would be coming home. Lee couldn't wait to spar with him. Ever since the match he had with him, Lee's Dad had insisted on training him himself. He saw after the match he had that Lee also had what it took to enter the Cross's Bodyguard line. Most of the males in the Cross-family line had been either a bodyguard or some type of protector like police officers and such. You could actually trace their roots to the Feudal era in Japanese history to the 1480's Feudal Lord's top Bodyguard. The training sessions were immensely difficult but Lee himself felt the results. His strength and speed was already top notch even without magic now. He now was physically as strong and as fast as he had been at the match with his father. It was part of the family secret on how to train someone so fast with such good results in a short period of time. He also showed his father his perfected ZERO TENSHI. His father said that he and his brother were much alike. Down to the day, it took Lee and Sora the exact same time to learn ZERO TENSHI. Lee had once asked where the roots of ZERO TENSHI came from. His father told him that he himself invented the technique but that it was based off of one of their family's secret techniques passed down in the family from the age of swords called THUNDER STEP. It was an attack of tremendous speed and agility that had you speed past your opponent with your sword out slashing them as you went by. It was called THUNDER STEP because of the thunderous sound it made when you pounded the ground with the force of the charge. The Cross family actually had it's own style in that time with a complete move set and training schedule. The only thing was that it was forbidden to teach anyone other than a Cross family member.

When their Mom and Dad got home from doing the shopping, Lee told them about the call. Their mother was glad that Sora finally called. She had sent him a letter a month ago and was waiting for him to reply. Their father was equally happy when he heard the news. "Dad," said Lee, "Sora said he wanted to challenge you when he gets here tomorrow." "Well, I actually think I'll have him spar with you first. I want to see the result of your training just as much as his results. Besides, it should prove to be a good match. Sarah then asked the question she wanted to ask her dad for a long time. "Dad," she said, "Can you teach me too. Not on Lee's level but just so I can get stronger." "You know I will if you train hard." Sarah smiled at this. She saw the results of Lee's training and decided she needed to get stronger too for the battles ahead. Their dad wanted to see how much Sarah improved on her own so they went into the dojo after dinner. Lee went to just for something to do. She asked Lee to do something for her. "What?" said Lee? "I want you to hold BURNING DESTINY for me so I am fighting without magic." "There is no need for that," said Lee, "Just tell it not to use magic right now. That is what I did during my training sessions." So with that in mind, her evaluation began. She actually wasn't bad at all. She lasted 10 minutes against him. That was 2 times her previous record. Her father said she too had improved a good bit. Then they went to bed, all of them thinking about the next day.

Lee and Sarah went through school the next day feeling like time had slowed down due to anticipation. Chrono, Sakura and Nanoha all thought Lee was hyped up about summer vacation like everyone else until he told them about his brother coming home. Nanoha had never met Lee's brother. She would be meeting him the next day when all their families got together for a large out of school picnic to celebrate the end of the school year. They had all already graduated and had the ceremony and such.

When school ended, Lee found Sarah waiting for him on the steps of the school. They decided it would be fun to fly home, as it was the end of the school year so they went about it in a smart manner. They went to the back of the school, then teleported up into the sky so no one saw them take off and create awkward questions. Lee had only flown a few time out of battle for fun. He realized as he was flying through the air how nice it was. They teleported again down into the forest so no one saw them land. Then when they got home, they saw an extra car in the parking lot. They knew it was their brothers and when they ran inside, sure enough there was Sora on the couch watching TV.

They ran over and greeted him like any family would with lots of hugging and over emotional statements ect… Then when their father got home, they all went into the dojo including Mary (MOM). When they were all warmed up, Dad told all three of them to remove their training weights. They all wore them so they would be training technically all hours of the day by doing normal things. That was one of the training secrets. Lee and Sora apparently were wearing the same amount of weight until Sora took of two weights he had on his legs that were heavier than Lee's leg weights. Sarah's were 4 times as light as Lee's were but since she had gotten serious about training only a few days ago, she was just starting out. "Okay, ready Dad," said Sora. "I'm not the challenger for this match, He is," said Lee's dad while he pointed at Lee. "Are you sure? I wanted a challenge." Lee's dad just smiled. Sora thought this must be a warm up so he can face his dad at full strength.

"I won't go easy on you," said Sora. "Same goes for me," said Lee. On their Dad's signal they started. Lee charged first and for the first time, he saw the results of the training for real. This was the first time he had taken the training weights off since he had gotten them. He first noticed the speed difference and so did Sora thought he wasn't expecting it. Next was his new strength as he clashed swords with Sora. At first, Sora who actually had taken it easy lost his composure but quickly rebounded with similar force. Both their father and Sarah were impressed with the results.

The match continued to escalate. Soon their swords were going so fast that they were just blurs and the sounds of the swords clashing sounded like thunder. Sora now realized what his father had been thinking when he had him fight Lee first. And to his surprise, he found that he was enjoying sparring with Lee a lot. It finally got to the point were they were fighting all out. Now they themselves were blurs to everyone except in the seconds when they had their blades clash. Finally both knew what they had to do to beat the other but neither was expecting the other to use it. They both stepped back, and then they both assumed the Special Kendo thrusting position. Sora just thought Lee was going to do a super fast thrust to try and get through his defenses and Lee thought the same thing about his brothers' stance. Only Jonathan, the father had any idea what was about to happen. They both charged and entered zero time. In zero time, they had a clash of swords and each one appeared on the opposite sides of the dojo. To everyone else, it just looked like they disappeared and reappeared in the blink of an eye but to them, their ZERO TENSHI bout seemed like it lasted a few minutes. Then both of them fell to the ground laughing. Beside each combatant laid a sword cleanly cut in half. They were dead tired and decided to call it a draw. As it was obvious that Sora was too tired to fight Dad, he decided to have Sarah face him to see her progress over the last few days. She had improved a bit and lasted 12 minutes this time, 20% improvement to her last bout. Then everyone headed into the dining room for dinner.

After dinner, Lee and Sakura went and chatted with Sora in his room/guestroom. Sora still couldn't believe how far along Lee was in his Kendo training. Lee if he poured his magic into it could have defeated Sora but he had decided the day before that he wanted to fight him with his own strength. Then after a while, they all thought it was time for them to go and sleep. But just when Lee and Sarah got to their rooms, they got a message telepathically from Lance for Lee and Sakura, who were closest to head over to an activated Saren Stone. They ran out of the house saying that they needed to go over to a friend's house for something they had forgotten. Sora who heard this could easily tell it was a lie. Wondering what they were up to, he followed them secretly. When Sarah and Lee got there, Chrono and Nanoha were waiting for them along with Lance. Unfortunately, Sakura couldn't come due to a family event she was going to.

Lance set up the barrier as soon as he briefed them on what was happening. When Lance had put up the barrier, Sora felt a chill and decided to sit still. Then everyone changed into their Barrier Jackets. Then It appeared, a giant human looking black monster. Lance didn't have to tell them twice, they all charged and started to attack. Chrono was first to make a hit with his **GRAVITON STRIKE**. It crushed its left arm. Then Nanoha tried her **DIVINE BUSTER** and hit its right arm. Then the monstrosity healed both arms so it looked like nothing had happened. The monstrosity then launched a blast of black M.E. at them all which Lee deflected with his shield.

Then Fate appeared behind them. To make matters worse. She started to attack them instead of the monster. Now Nanoha, Lee, and Chrono were dragged into a battle with Fate leaving Sarah alone with the monster person. "Alright then," said Sarah. "**PIERCING LIGHTS," **she shot a flurry of light shards at the monstrosity. "**Second Stage, BLIND DESTRUCTION."** Now all the shards that were in the beast exploded in a blinding light of destruction. "Try **SHOOTER STYLE."** "**SHOOTER STYLE,"** her staff changed. Now it had a silver-colored "U" shaped head and in the middle was BURNING DESTINY. It also had a white handle coming out of the staff. "**LIGHT SMASHER."** Sarah shot a large blast of White M.E. at the monster, which tried to deflect it with its hand only to have it blown off.

"**HBD, START,"** Sarah's blade turned into her short sword. "Alright, **FLASH CROSS."** A giant white cross then appeared at the tip of her sword. Also, Large white wings appeared on Sarah's feet. "_**GO!"**_ Sarah launched sword point first at the monster. She was moving so fast that the ground ripped up from the shockwave of her passing. She went straight through the beast and sliced it up into quarters. I didn't regenerate as with anything cut with Sarah's Sword. But it wasn't over. Out of one of the quartered sections, right where the heart would have been, walked out a cat eared person. The cat person made a sword appear out of nowhere and proceeded to attack Sarah. Sarah picked up her own sword and defended. Sarah was exhausted now so she couldn't do more than defend herself or swing her sword around.

While the sword fight continued below, Fate was fighting Chrono, Lee and Nanoha all at once up in the air. She kept using the same combo. She started off with a **PLASMA LANCER,** which fired at all of them. Then tried to see if she could get one of them on their own. This strategy proved ineffective. Nanoha though was getting flustered. As much as she attacked and tried to help, she couldn't keep up with the others speed. Lee and Chrono had Swords out (Chrono's multi-weapon was a sword right now) and went into high speed combat with Fate who changed her staff into **HAWKEN FORM SONIC STYLE**. In this mode, she sacrificed defense for speed and thus was as agile and speedy as Lee and Chrono. Nanoha couldn't keep up so she decided to see if she could do a finisher. As Lee and Chrono distracted Fate, Nanoha took this Chance to charge her finisher. "**EXCELLION MODE," **said Nanoha,** "A****ccelerated****C****rash****S****hot****, Stand by.****" **She aimed her spearhead towards the battle of the three high-speed combatants. "LEE, CHRONO, OUT OF THE WAY."Both moved out of the way quickly. "**BARREL SHOT,"** Nanoha shot a medium wave of M.E. at Fate, which it made solid contact with. "**ACS FLAME IGNITE,"** a glowing pink point appeared out of the spearhead. "**ACS, GO**_**!"**_ Four giant pink wings appeared on the spearhead. Then Nanoha sped at Fate point first. Fate put up a shield to defend herself. Nanoha hit the shield full force with the staff. The Glowing pink Point cracked through the shield. The Glowing Pink point grew brighter and brighter as it started to gather more M.E. "**ACS, **_**SHOOOOT!!!!!" **_Where Nanoha and Fate had been, there was a huge Explosion that wiped out the nearest buildings to them. Nanoha came flying out of the explosion looking like she had it. Lee and Chrono went over to support her. "YOU yell at ME for using the **OBD** and you turn around and use your **ACS** thingy. Talk about reckless," said Chrono. "Just trying to help, and besides, that wasn't a full powered one like yours, I left out a step from the full combo that makes the entire thing 5 times stronger." said Nanoha. Fate then came flying out of the cloud. Looking at Nanoha all exhausted and Defenseless, Lee thought she would attack but instead, she just vanished. This puzzled Lee.

Back on the ground, Sarah was less fortunate in her sword fight. She had finally been forced into a corner. Then as she was about to defend herself, the cat person knocked her sword out of her hand. Sora is watching all of this in horror. He was watching his little sister fighting with all her strength against a monster and he wasn't able to do anything to help. He drew his Katana and just as the cat person was about to deliver the final blow, Sora appeared out of Zero Time with his blade just short of it's neck. "I suggest you move away from my little sister, NOW!" The Cat person then disappeared and reappeared a few feet behind Sora. Sora held his sword up and prepares for another ZERO TENSHI. Next thing it knew, the cat person had slashes all over its body and a severe stab wound in its would-be heart. Unfortunately, it just recovered and swung a sure hit kill shot at Sora. Sora thought he was about to die but then, a dark golden shield appeared blocking the attack and repelling the attacker.

"RELEASE ME" said a voice inside Sora's head. "Huh," said Sora out loud. "RELEASE ME." Sora then started to glow in an orange light. He continued to cross blades with the cat person. Not realizing it, Sora was going faster and faster until he was going so fast, he was tearing up the ground as he passed. "RELEASE." "_FLARE STORM!_" yelled Sora and then he was enveloped in an Orange Light. He then reappeared, now wearing an Orange Blazer with Black stripes over it at random, and orange pants with shielding at the top and holding a Bright Silver bladed Kendo style Sword with an Orange Hilt. "Ready to serve, Master," said FLARE STORM. "Try using **FLARE SLASH."** Sora's blade ignited into flames. Sora got a feeling and decided he should follow it. He held his sword in both hands. "**FLARE SLASH,"** Sora swung his sword down until it hit the ground. Off his sword flew an orange, flaming wave of magical energy. Traveling along the ground sticking up vertically like a shark's top fin and it hit the cat person at an amazing speed. "Next try **HEAT STRIKE FLAME."** Now his sword absorbed all the flames around his blade and it glowed red hot. Then an Orange magic Circle appeared under him. "**HEAT STRIKE FLAME,"** He launched at the enemy with frightening speed and power and swung his sword at them. It tore through the enemy like tissue and as an added bonus, set them ablaze.

"Change to **STORM MODE.**" His sword changed into a staff with an orange marble at the top surrounded by six prongs. Energy started to charge up in the marble and an orange magic circle appeared under him. " **FLAMING BLITZ CRIEGE."** Sora flew up into the air and launched a large blast of flaming orange M.E. at super sonic speeds at the cat person who tried to dodge but got scorched by the intense heat that the blast gave off as it passed. Now his staff was charging again. This time it seemed like more energy than before. He pointed his staff at the cat eared person and a large orange magic circle appeared under him. "**FLASH FLARE CANNON."** Sora unleashed a super large ray of intensely heated orange magical energy that burned everything around it to ashes straight at the Cat person. It made a direct hit and a large explosion. Next thing anyone saw was a block-sized crater. Then a Saren Stone flew up from out of the smoke. "Lets seal it, Sealing form." As FLARE STORM said this, it's head changed. It was now a hook with the Orange marble at the end of it. "SEAL IT!" said Sora and shot a small orange ray at the Saren Stone that then flew over to the Orange Marble and absorbed into it. FLARE STORM said, "Number 18, Sealed." A Large amount of Steam blew out the back of the staff.

As Sora Landed down on the ground, everyone looked at him with awe and amazement. Then Sarah went up to him and hugged him tightly. Then came the hard part. Sora started asking a lot of questions just like with Lee, Chrono, Sakura and Sarah when they got their Magic. To clear things up, they went to Chrono's house and went up to his room. Lee Teleported there with Sora because he was so tired. Sora may have been older but he didn't seem it to the group. He was smart but beyond that, he didn't act older than Lee accept on occasions like parties ect… Now Lance and Nanoha explained it all to him. After the explanation finished. Sora agreed to help. FLARE STORM tuned out to be an Orange Marble that placed itself around his neck. "By the way, which one of you saved me with that Dark Gold barrier thing," said Sora. They then explained the weird phenomena with the barrier. "Wonder where it came from?" said Sora. Now that he had been briefed on everything, he decided it would be best before his parents found Lee and Sarah out of the house so they all teleported (Sora with Lee because he didn't know how to yet,) and went home without anyone knowing they were gone.


	14. The Family

The Haruno Chronicles

Ch. 13 We are going to take a break from the magic for a bit and learn about the Cross family as a Family reunion becomes a challenge like no other. Remember that I took words from many Asian languages for the moves, not just English and Japanese.

Disclaimer: Everything, material, characters, locations ect… are property of the respective people.

Chapter 14 – The Family

They woke up next morning as if nothing had happened. The only thing was that they all slept in until noon. This didn't surprise their parents who suspected that Lee and Sarah kept up Sora with a million questions and then they all went to bed late. Actually, it happened to be the opposite. It was Sora who bombarded Lee and Sarah with questions thereby making them all stay up late. Sora, though older and more experienced in some areas was a young hatchling when it came to magic. They were going over to the clearing, which they had decided to call the training area so they could see Sora's potential. Sora felt kind of weird going to a training area to be taught other-worldly powers by those who were younger than him but it went away whenever he thought about what they had been doing until now.

When he got to the training area. Everyone was there waiting for him. As soon as he was able to transform at will, the real training began. They first tested his abilities. Again, like his siblings, he had the same varied pallet. But instead of extraordinary wide area capabilities like Sarah, he had stronger close-combat capabilities. Another thing was like his brother Lee, Sora could seal. Lance thought that this was good as now there were three lone people who could seal. "This will reduce the chance of me sealing," thought Lance to himself. Due to his good close combat skills, his staff's true form was a Japanese metal kendo style blade. This blade was curved slightly at the top and the outer side of the blade was razor sharp while the inner side was duller.

"Chrono, Sakura, Lee, Sora, Sarah. Please come over here for a minute," said Lance. "I need to teach you something important. I need to teach you about half-releases." Everyone except Nanoha looked confused at this. "Let me explain," said Lance, "whenever you release normally, you have to give the command to and everything comes out. I am pretty sure you know this by now but there is a large time delay why doing all that. That is where half-releases come in handy. These are when you release just your weapon without a command or your barrier jacket. This is also done without a command and it is instantaneous. Nanoha, please demonstrate." "Gladly," said Nanoha. She stood still for a second and then her staff appeared from out of nowhere in her right hand. "There are restrictions," Nanoha proceeded to say, "You can only make it appear into one mode. That mode will be chosen by your personality.

They all tried to do it, but to their frustration, they couldn't do it, "You have to really sync with your device with your heart. Don't try with your brain," was all the advice that Nanoha could give. They continued for another hour or so with no results. Then, without knowing how, Sakura's Staff appeared in her hand. It was her FIRING TYPE staff. "I did it," said Sakura. "Now try it again," said Lee. She did and to her surprise, it happened, almost effortlessly. "I just felt it and went with it." With this boost in moral, the others got it down only ten minutes later. Surprisingly, Sora was the second one to achieve this. Sora's, Sarah's and Lee' all appeared in sword mode. This suited them fine. Sora said it would be handy to be able to summon a sword at any time. He wouldn't need to carry one now. Lance suggested against this so he didn't look two suspicious. Last was Chrono's who was the hilt. He was hoping it was the hilt because now he could summon any weapon in the blink of an eye.

They all headed home for the night. Sora teleported home now that he learned how. When they got home, their father was waiting for them. They had planned to have a training session when they got home but they were all tired out from the half-release training. It was more exhausting then it sounded. Unfortunately, since they couldn't tell their Father what they actually were doing, they all decided that they would just have to put up with practice. Their father was especially hard on them today. He had Lee and Sora doing non-stop matches. They had been banned during the duels to use ZERO TENSHI due to two reasons. One was that they would never improve if they just relied on the one attack and the second is that they kept breaking all of the wooden swords ever time they clashed with ZERO TENSHI. They were now just batting it out. They both agreed to not use magic to beat the other. Due to this, they were completely even. Their Dad had also taught them the Shunpo technique. This technique, also called Flash Steps, was a running style that accelerated the user to speeds beyond normal human eyes recognition. Even Lee and Sora who mastered this technique still couldn't believe that what they themselves were doing was within a human's ability. They also learned SHOU. This was an extrasensory technique that heightened your senses as to kind of feel out were others were without using their eyes. All these techniques were all part of the required skill set for a Cross family bodyguard since the family line started.

Sakura too was getting the hang of it. She actually caught on to Shunpo why watching Lee and Sora train to learn it. This impressed their father as well as Sora and Lee. Their father then taught Sarah SHOU due to the fact that they were a set. SHOU allowed you to find your opponent after accelerating without having to rely on the burred images. She was advancing fast. Unfortunately, she couldn't learn their father's signature, ZERO TENSHI because the backs of her ankles were weak. This was a hereditary trait of all the women in the Cross family line so they couldn't find a way around it. Instead, their father taught Sarah a different, slower technique. It wasn't even remotely as fast but in some ways more devastating. It was called ZEHI TENSHO. This technique required a quick charge by use of Shunpo. The user then sped past the opponent and with a special move of the sword, cut the tendons in their legs and arms. The sword movement itself was charged and power was amplified by the spin around the opponent. The entire attack time was only 5 seconds skipping the time it took to speed up. This was 10 times longer than the kick off and stops time of ZERO TENSHI but on the other hand, this attack made the opponent immobile. Dad used this technique a lot more than ZERO TENSHI for when he needed to bring in someone alive for terrorist investigation. It was perfect for Sarah because all the power for this technique came from a spin of agility focused on the front of the foot entirely. Due to this, Sarah learned it very quickly. She practiced on a target dummy with marks on the back. The attack had to be brutally accurate otherwise the attack would fail.

When they finished their training for the day, they had realized they had been training for 4 hours. It was now 7 O'clock and time for dinner. Luckily, Dinner was waiting for them when they came into the dining room. During dinner, Sarah kept falling asleep with the fork half way to her mouth and Lee kept on dropping his spoon. Their mother, Mary told their Dad not to be so rough on them. Then everyone butted in saying that it didn't matter. If they didn't do it to the fullest, they wouldn't learn anything. Half way through dinner, their mother and father said they had something to tell them. "There is going to be a Cross family reunion tomorrow." With this, their faces lit up. They loved family reunions. They were always different except for one thing. They always had a Kendo competition during the party. Almost all of Lee's relatives on his Dad's side were either Bodyguards or Law officials." In the police world, the Cross's were the elites. They were considered the ones to go to for the best. Of course, that was also the only place they were known. They tried to keep out of the public eye with their amazing skills. Dad had made a slip up when he used ZERO TENSHI at the kendo competition. It wasn't hard to find them, they could be contacted like any other company but they didn't like to broadcast what they could actually do either.

The next day, they told the others that they were going to the family reunion. They then offered for them to go along with them. They all said yes eagerly. These reunions were pretty open to friends of the family. Neither Chrono nor Sakura though had ever gone to one. They were only held once every couple of years and were always on short notice. Organization was not one of the family's strong points. So later that day, they headed up for their uncles estate where it was being held. The others were going to come later. He had a nice sized house and a large Dojo and seating at his house, which was on a 100 acre slot. His uncle was a bodyguard of foreign ambassadors from many nations so besides being multi-lingual, he got paid a lot. When they got there, they saw a lot of their relatives. Their father was popular within the family as the two-time winner of the families Kendo competition and for his invention of ZERO TENSHI. Apparently, each of the intermediate families too had made up their own move to add to the Cross's fighting style. This was also a tradition of the family. Though they didn't seem like it, the Cross's were a very traditional family.

Before the real tournament, Lee and Sarah went around to try and find some of their cousins. Sora was already busy with their older cousin Paul. They were friendly to each other but had a deep rivalry in Kendo. Lee was the first to find a relative. He found his cousin Sam near the Dojo warming up. He was probably on the best terms with Sam than any other of his cousins. They were the exact same age down to their birthday. They too also had a fierce Kendo rivalry. They decided to have a warm-up bout before the actual competition. Their dad had warned before they arrived to not show their skills until the competition. So when they started, Lee didn't even bother taking off his training weights. He only used enough of his strength to be just slightly better than Sam. The last time they had been in a match was during a party 1 and half years ago. Back then; they were both not nearly as strong as they were now. Apparently, it was not uncommon for someone to start developing their real skills at their age. Of course, Lee and Sarah's skills were still way above average but that didn't stop the fact that Sam had become a whole lot better. Back then; Lee had tied with Sam in their match. He wasn't going to let that happen again. He decided to drag on the fight for 5 minutes before doing a quick blow to win the match. "Your a lot better now I see," said Sam. " I let you in on a little secret though, I was holding back. My dad said to. He said to save it for the competition. I hope we get a chance to fight again in the competition. I could tell you were holding back some too. Next time we, should both take our weights off." And with that, he walked away.

"Kay, its our turn now," said Sarah. She had found Rebecca, the only girl of her age that also studied Kendo. It was known in the family that Rebecca was supposed to be a Kendo prodigy, beating both her older brothers at age 10. Of course, it was also unknown to the family how much of a prodigy Sarah was. Sarah and Rebecca's bout lasted only 4 minutes. Their bouts were usually like this. They were totally even but also short. Then Chrono, Sakura and Nanoha came up to them. Chrono couldn't stop talking about the size of the property. Even compared to his house this was big. It was apparently the first time he had been to a house bigger than his own before. This was a new sensation for him and he seemed to be enjoying it. Lee and Sara introduced the others to some of their relatives. Sakura already knew his uncle Fredrick because he had once been an escort for her father while on a business trip. After they were all done with the introductions, they all went to the oversized dojo. What they didn't know was the real size of the dojo. Apparently, the dojo they saw was the small part. The connected oversized garage had been renovated so when he slid the door open, they saw three more rings going down a line. The entire family was impressed with this surprise.

The Cross's may have been disorganized but the Kendo tournament was an exception. You would think it was a regulation event. First were the rule briefing and the prize announcement. This year, it was a solid 24-karat gold trophy about 24 inches high. They looked at it with envy. This year, there were 64 Cross's who decided to participate. This was good as it made the tournament go smoother. First off was the drawing for seeing who would draw who. They would then be split into 4 blocks with the top 2 from each block advancing. That meant that you had to win three times before going to the finals. When all was done and done, Sora, Sarah, Lee and their dad Jonathan were all in different blocks.

It looked like Sam was in the same block as Lee. But they were on opposite ends so they wouldn't have to fight each other (yet). The blocks each were sent to one of the four arenas to start. Lee was first up in his block. He was facing his aunt Sally. She was supposes to be pretty good. Lee allowed he the first attack. She sped toward him at a fast pace. SHUNPO and SHOU were standard in the family. Lee sped toward her just as fast but then in a split second, doubled his speed, spun around and hit her from behind. The match ended in 10 seconds. It though was the second one to finish. His father's match ended in 2 seconds, a new in family record. His next two matches took a little longer but had the same result. The rest of the family and their friends (the ones that didn't take part) looked at Lee in admiration. Lee hadn't showed the results of his training to anyone besides those in his own house so they were looking on with awe. "Sakura," said Chrono, "remind me never to pick a fight with Lee again." Sakura couldn't hear due to her intense focus. She had to use her enhanced senses just to see half of the fights. Nanoha was getting a large headache from just watching. She could see the fights well enough due to her combat training but just couldn't grasp that these people were fighting without magic. She just couldn't grasp the idea of how strong they were. She surmised that these people could probably beat lower level mages with ease. This also kind of worried her. Non-magic people being able to defeat mages; it was unheard of for that to be even possible.

Sarah was doing similarly well. She had finished all three of her matches in fewer than 2 minutes. She also had amazed her opponents with her skill. She was expected by most of the family to have lost in the first battle. Sora showed off a bit and finished all of his matches within one minute consecutively. Their father (who was actually fighting as easily as possible) won all of his matches in 32 seconds. That was all of his matches, not the length of each. Lee's family also had an ace in the hole for the finals. They were all still fighting with their training weights on. Their dad had insisted they master SHUNPO with the weights on. Since then, they hadn't taken them off for anything. None of them knew how fast they would be with the weights off.

There was a lunch break before the finals. The rest of the family came over to congratulate them. Then they got into a discussion with their father about their training regiment. He told them the usual. The other finalists were from Lee's block, surprisingly Sam. It was true that 2 of his opponents were younger than him but the third one had gotten 5th place last year so Lee was sure it wasn't luck. From Sarah's block, Rebecca had made it to the finals. Out of all the teen's participating that year, she was the only one who was expected to pass besides Sora. From Sora's block, their Uncle Will (Owner of the estate) made it. He was known to be extraordinarily skilled. Then finally from Dad's group, the one who in their family was called Lightning God, their cousin Paul. He was currently in third Year College. He had won all the matches he had ever been the captain on his colleges Kendo team. He even won the nationals 3 times in a row and was Sora's current Kendo rival. He was also considered a protégé. Now however, Lee and Sarah were also being considered protégées. Sora was already known to be gifted so he was expected to do good.

After the break, they met back in the dojo. It had been rearranged over the lunch break. Now there was a single, much larger arena space surrounded by bleachers for the family to watch. They all gathered in the arena area after lunch was over. With the entire family and their friend there, the dojo felt more like a fully seated stadium than a family dojo. All of the finalists lined up in the middle of the arena. They all went up to a box in the middle to draw lots to determine the order. No one could of guessed what it was.

1st match: Lee vs. Sam

2nd match: Sarah vs. Rebecca.

3rd match: Sora vs. Paul

4th match: Jonathan vs. Will


	15. The Finals

The Haruno Chronicles

Ch. 13 Were in the finals where things really start to heat up. Stuff goes flying everywhere and a rich uncle is loosing his fortune due to repairs. Remember that the names for the attacks come from many different languages.

Disclaimer: Everything, material, characters, locations ect… are property of the respective people.

Chapter 15 – The Finals

The family was well aware of the rivalries here. Their dad and Will had a score to settle from the last tournament. Will had lost to their dad in the final match for the championship. The family could feel the tension in the air. It felt thick enough to cut with a knife as the combatants readied themselves for their matches. Each of them started to warm up. The air was thick with anticipation a well as tension. There was also a hint of anxiety and impatience as they prepared to begin.

Lee was up right off the bat and he was ready. But, he couldn't shake off the suspicion that there was going to be more to this fight than what he was expecting. He entered the arena a minute later prepared to win. Sam seemed the same way. "3, 2, 1, GO!" They started at each other with amazing speed. Lee's friends were only able to see while using magic to increase their senses. Nanoha now had decided to stop thinking about how it was being done due to the fact that she felt light headed every time she thought about it. Now she just put it down in "The things you can't explain," category that most people have for the unexplainable. Lee had made the first hit with a spin and swing combo from behind. Sam then countered with a backlash which Lee defended against only to find that at the last second, Sam pulled back his sword a bit and changes it into a side ways swing which hit. This type of thing continued for most the battle. Then Lee used and Accelerated SHUNPO that his dad had taught him to get behind Sam for a finishing thrust. To his surprise, Sam also sped up at the last second and dodged. Then he aimed for Lee's feet with a round house, which Lee avoided by speeding backwards. The crowd was roaring with excitement.

"So, You want to take this up a notch," said Sam. "Why not," said Lee. They both called a time out for a minute and went to take off their training weights. Lee took the ones off his hands and legs but decided to leave the weight on his arms and ankles. His father told him to do this so the sudden increase didn't tear apart the muscle tissue. So they both then went back out to the arena to continue. Sam charged first, and he was much faster now. Lee who had no time to counter attack dodged it and to his surprise, he sped out of the way so fast that he lost control and fell over. Sam thought it was an accident and proceeded to attack again. Lee, who knew the truth decided to end the match quickly to see how fast he could go. He got up quickly and dodged the attack. He then appeared on the other side of the arena. Everyone looked astonished at this. Then, with another burst of speed, he shot to the other side of the arena. The arena floor cracked under him with the sheer speed at which he was moving. He then tried a full out dash and stopped right in front of Sam, with his blade to Sam's throat and Sam's Sword broken in half. Sam looked shocked at what just happened. Lee then left the arena. It was then marked as a win for Lee even though he left the arena.

The crowed of family members looked stupefied after this unexpected win for Lee. It was now Sarah's turn to go up against her favorite cousin, rival, and Kendo protégé, Rebecca. She was ready; they had both decided to take off their weights before the fight. They wanted to go all out at the beginning to see who was truly stronger. They started in a flurry of sword swings. Without their weights on, they were moving at supersonic speeds; almost as fast as Lee went in his battle. The shockwaves they created made the air fill with static. You could hear the crack from it in the dojo. The family was roaring with excitement. This was the best tournament they had seen since the one 13 years ago were the force of the battle created an Earthquake that had destroyed the arena and the surrounding area, including the house.

They were going at it; both with all their restraints off were fighting full force. Chrono was getting a headache trying to watch. Nanoha decided that he would probably be better off if he transformed where all of his abilities would then match those of the people he was watching. Chrono took her advice and went outside. He transformed and flew up to a high window to watch. He could see it clearly now except to him, who in this form moved that faster, they looked a little sluggish. It was hard for him to imagine that it was the same fight. The girls kept on going at it. One hit after the other, they kept clashing at high speeds. The sounds the swords made when they collided sounded like thunder. It was anyone's guess why neither sword had broken yet. The truth was, in order to keep the match going, Sarah had infused both swords with some magic so they couldn't break easily.

Rebecca and Sarah were commenting on how good the other had got when Rebecca started to take a weird stance. She put her sword out to one side and held it with one hand. Then she put her legs right near each other. They were lined up so evenly that to Sarah, it looked like one leg, as she was right In front of her. Then she bent down. Sarah's dad realized what it was. He looked terrified and furious. He marched over to his brother Dan, who was Sarah's dad, and started yelling at him. "Surly you didn't teach her that move," said Jonathan. "I did, so what," said Dan. "You know that move could kill them both. How could you be so stupid?" Dan didn't answer.

"I am sorry," said Rebecca. She pushed off at such speed that there was a loud sonic boom. She then jumped up. "SHERIN TETSU!" She was now coming down at an insane speed. It looked like she was diving at Sarah from above. She then started spinning in a weird fashion. Now her blade resembled the top of a drill-head. Sarah then did something equally as weird. She extended her sword arm out as far as possible so it made the sword's reach as much as possible. She then put her other arm straight in the opposite and made her hand vertical to the ground. Her father and everyone in the audience looked on with curiosity. Jonathan had no idea what Sarah was doing. He hadn't taught her anything like this. "ZERO HERIKATSU!" She disappeared on the spot and at the same time appeared on the other side of the dojo. In mid air now, Rebecca was frozen. All over her protective armor, there was what looked like burn marks. Also, there was a huge slash mark and Rebecca's sword was cut straight in half, the long way. Then, when the sword hit the ground with Rebecca, it splintered into a million pieces. Another thing was that Sarah looked as if nothing had happened. The final aspect was that the arena looked like it had been cut in half. There was a huge crack between where Sarah had started to where Sarah had reappeared.

Rebecca was out cold for about two hours. The tournament was having an extended intermission to repair the arena. Sarah was waiting at Rebecca's side along with Lee and their Dad as well as Rebecca's dad, Dan. When Rebecca awoke, she looked around at the people gathered at her bedside. Then she stopped at Sarah. "So I guess you won," said Rabecca. "I guess I did." Both girls then started to giggle which turned into very loud laughing. Everyone cheered up at this. No one had asked Sarah about what happened in the match due to her worry about Rebecca. But now the question popped up from Rebecca. "So what did you exactly do there? I only noticed that you stuck your sword out and your expression went to looking serious. I think that was when I blacked out." "It was a move called ZERO HERIKATSU." "Where did you pick up on a move like that," said Jonathan. She looked at her dad and said, "I invented it. It was based off your ZERO TENSHI. I then modified it to make it work with people who didn't have ankle strength. Due to this, the move patterned is different. It requires a special series of twelve steps in all for the full effect. But you do enter Zero Time on the third step. The other nine are to make up for the imbalance you get when you enter Zero Time. I noticed that whenever you guy's entered ZERO TENSHI and reappeared, it looked like there was enormous pressure exerted on the ankle for balance. The nine steps are to maintain your balance in place of using your ankles. After those steps, you can stop anywhere. Unfortunately, due to the number of steps, you only have one chance to attack. And it has to be on the tenth step and must be a slash. The tenth step is the most important one; it is a twist of insane power from the top of your toes. This is what gives you your main balance. The 11th and 12th steps are to re balance you in the other direction after the 10th one. During that step, the sword is out at full length and as you prepare to do the 10th step, you retract it a bit, which gives you some acceleration. This is the most important part; at this point, you make your slash. Due to the intense pressure put on the sword from the final turn, it heats up which gives it extra power. This slash is one of immense power and accuracy. I cut through the sword long-ways on purpose to slow it down a lot so it didn't severely injure her or worse. And that is all there is too it."

Everyone looked at Sarah. All of them were amazed and in awe of what she had created. Even her dad had to look amazed and impressed at what she had done. "SO what is the bad side to it," said Jonathan. "Zero Tenshi, just as you said puts an insane amount of pressure and force on the users ankles." Sarah answered, "The wrist. Due to the fact that the sword is all the way extended for balance during the majority of the attack, the wrists had much more pressure exerted on it than normal. Also, all the pressure from the slash also goes to the wrists." "I thought so. Well Sarah, I must say I am impressed and proud to call you my daughter. Who would of thought you would come up with something like this." "Well," Sarah said, "I actually came up with this move to keep up with Lee and Sora. I didn't want to be left in the dust for weak ankles and the inability to do ZERO TENSHI. So, to over come that obstacle, I created another way to use Zero Time that worked for me, the ZERO HIRIKATSU. And I have to be honest. That was only the second time I was able to pull it off. I only got it down very early this Morning." "Well Sakura, I hope you will tell me more about how to do it, I can already think of some uses I may have for it," said her dad, "ZERO TENCHI is a thrust so it only hits a single point, Yours is a slash so it can hit in a much bigger way. Even if you get only one hit, that is all you would need." "Sure, when we get home."

The arena was finally finished being repaired. Their uncle Will had put steel tiles under the traditional floor to make it more durable. Now it was time for Sora and Paul's fight. Everyone was excited for this fight. In the last tournament, both had been knocked out simultaneously and both lost as a result. The tension that had built up over the years was immense. Sora had taken off his preliminary set of weights just like Lee had except he did it straight from the start. He took his stance. It was for a strong assault move. The only thing about this move was that it was slow compared to the rest of the style. But if it made contact, it was an almost sure hit K.O. He waited for Paul to make the first move. Seeing the invite, Paul charged at him at a fast pace. Then Sora tried his move, which Paul dodged with ease. Then Sora spun around at an insane speed. He then tried to sweep slash Paul's feet, but he jumped up and tried for a slam from above. Sora dodged and tried a thrust that was equally as ineffective.

This went on for almost 15 minutes. Neither one of them had managed to hit the others sword let alone the person themselves. It was clear that both, with such extraordinary reflexes, would decide this with their speed. They seemed almost even. Then Sora disappeared for a second. He reappeared behind Paul and hit him with a downward slash to the shoulder. The crowed cheered for the fact that the first contact was made. Then Paul stuck his sword under his shoulder and stabbed Sora with a surprise reverse thrust. Then they started their real battle. The swords started to collide, and they collided. They were going so fast that even Lee had trouble seeing them. Well the swords were. To everyone's amazement, the two combatants were perfectly still during the fight. Then, Sora stepped back and then charged for a full force thrust. He was countered by another reverse thrust by Paul. They then went into a full high-speed bout. Most of the family was now having trouble keeping track of the combatants. Then, Paul jumped back. Alarmed by this, Sora followed suit to be safe.

"Lets bring this up a notch," said Paul. He took a different stance now. His sword was directly in front of him. He was perfectly straight except for his arms, which were holding onto the sword. "Okay, this should be fun." Paul ran at an insane speed towards Sora and then he just stopped right in front of him. Before he had time to settle himself, Paul did an Insanely powerful slash and sweep combo. Sora could only block with his sword. Unfortunately, his swords top 2 inches splintered off from the force and the slash hit him on the left shoulder. It stung, but due to the slash being significantly reduced by Sora's sword, it wasn't serious. "Let's see what you can do this time with that broken sword." Paul started again. But this time, Sora was ready for him. He took the same stance as Paul and charged up at insane speeds. They started to circle each other at such an insane speed. The air was being sucked out of the space in-between them. The air started to get electrified with static now. Sora made the first attack and missed. Then Paul did the same and missed and each went back to their original corners. Sora saw only one way to finish this. He pulled his Sword back so the hilt drew level with his face. Thinking he was doing a special Kendo thrust, Paul prepared to do the same. He charged at Sora at super speeds. Sora at the last second disappeared and reappeared on the other side of the arena. Paul fell to the ground with his sword cut into small pieces. Sora left the arena, stupefying the audience with the show of the ZERO TENSHI, or what they could see of it. Chrono came back into the building. He found a way to enhance his abilities without fully transforming. He did a half-release and summons the hilt that he put in his pocket. Now he had the same senses as he did transformed but he still looked normal to anyone looking.

Now was the final battle of the first round, Jonathan vs. Will. They got into the arena and started straight off. It took their dad only 20 seconds to knock Will out cold. And he did it without using ZERO TENSHI. He just ran behind him and hit him in the back with a nice slash. It was over so fast that everyone seemed kind of bored. Even to Chrono, Sakura and Nanoha who could barley comprehend what these people could do found it anti-climactic. The only thing interesting about the match was the scar it left on the floor. Jonathan had moved so fast, he tore apart the steel shingles with the shockwave he produced from the sudden acceleration. They had to have another intermission for half an hour why the ring was being fixed. During this time, Lee went up to Sakura and asked her to put some barrier on the arena floor so it wouldn't break. The tournament was being delayed too much. It was already four in the afternoon. She said she would try but there wouldn't be any guarantee's. She didn't do barriers very often so she didn't know how strong she could make it. She could make barriers without creating a magic circle so all would be okay. The next fight was a sibling bout, Lee vs. Sarah. In fact, the entire tournament was down to just Lee's family. Everyone else looked on in awe of this family's amazing abilities.

Lee and Sarah were looking forward to their fight. They had never sparred with each other so it would be interesting. Meanwhile, Sakura, Chrono and Nanoha were in a complex situation. They didn't want either of them to lose but they also wanted them both to win but they didn't want to hurt the others feelings by cheering for the other one. In the end, they went up to Lee and Sarah and told them to have a good match and to try and not hurt the other one too badly. The arena was fixed 15 minutes later. Now it had reinforced steel I-beams for support and Sakura had put a barrier around it to protect it even more. When the time came, they both entered the arena and took their stances.

They started off as fast as they could go. Then, they collided in the middle with a thunderous bang. It shook the entire building. They started attacking each other full force at top speed. It was intense. Now even Nanoha was having a hard time seeing them. Each of their collisions sounded like thunder. It was a good thing that there wasn't a judge trying to maintain the rules. He wouldn't be able to see the combatants as they sped around the arena. They had both long since gone past the sonic barrier so their swords had the power of a sonic boom each time they collided. The audience could feel the force of the sonic booms. They continued this for almost half an hour. Then, Sarah tried a jump and swing from behind that Lee saw and dodged. Then he countered with a seep and slash combo, which Sarah also avoided.

They were locked in intense high speed combat. Each of them had to try hard not to use their magic. If anything, they were more suppressing it than holding down an urge. Their magic automatically tried to help them when they were in a bind. This though was a tournament and would kind of be like cheating if they did so they held it back. Then, Sarah tried using ZEHI TENSHO to try and immobilize him. He countered with a move his dad taught him called TENHI KISHOU. The move started out as a full speed slash. Then, halfway through the slash, you jumped and turned in mid air doing an upward slash to your opponent. Then, with the force coming down, you would do another slash combo. Once on the way down and another right after you landed. For the one after you landed, you would rebound from the fall and use that force as extra power. This was the most powerful and important part of this 4-part slash combo. When Sarah tried to spin around Lee, he did the first slash which she blocked, then he did the upwards slash going into the air, skimming Sarah's sword on the way up. Then he did the downward slash, which she blocked but lost her balance. The he did the final slash. It collided with Sarah's sword but the sheer power of it knocked Sarah back a few feet and to the ground.

She got up, apparently shocked after the last attack. "Lee, I know there is only one way for me to beat you so I hope you are prepared." She took her stance. Her sword was all the way extended now and her other arm was all the way back with the hand flipped vertically to the ground. Lee saw what she was doing and in order to counteract her ZERO HERIKOTSU, he drew the hilt of his sword level with his face and put his left hand on the tip of the blade. They both launched and disappeared. During the one moment they prepared to attack was all anyone saw. Both entered Zero time. Sarah stuck with her super-powered Slash, which collided with Lee's super charged thrust. Lee and Sarah then reappeared. To the audience, it merely looked like they vanished and reappeared on opposite ends of the arena at the same time. At first, no one knew who had beaten whom. Then, Sarah's sword broke into millions of pieces and she fell to the ground like dust. She had many slashes on her and she was out cold. It was obvious what had happened to anyone who knew about these attacks. Sarah's attack was a one shot deal so when it was deflected by Lee's thrust, she couldn't attack again but Lee's attack allows the user to slash their opponents with many slashes so he took advantage of this to attack why she couldn't counter. It was obvious that Lee's ZERO TENSHI had beaten Sarah's attack. But due to the insane power in the first collision from the initial hits, Lee's sword was broken in half. Due to this, all of Sarah's cuts were very shallow. This relived Lee who then left the arena to go and lie down.

Even with all the extra protection the arena had, there was still a large scorch straight across the arena from the middle where they had collided. They had to clean up the arena before the next fight could proceed. Sarah woke up in the infirmary tent right outside the arena. She blinked and asked Sakura who was right beside her, "So how bad was it." "Pretty bad from what I could tell. You had wounds all over your body and you came out of the attack unconscious." "That's funny," said Sarah, "I don't feel bad, in-fact, I feel great." "Your brother is responsible for that to. He came in with you before lying down and healed you once the nurse was gone by magic. He seems to have done a pretty good job of it to. No scars to speak of." Sarah felt good so the two girls headed back to the arena. Even though she was perfectly fine, Sakura insisted she stay in a wheelchair so she didn't get awkward questions about her full recovery. Sarah agreed and then they left for the arena.

The next fight was on they were anxious to get under way. The combatants starring daggers at each other even though they were father and son, the crowed restless and on the edge of their seats, their Uncle who owned the place on the phone with the insurance company and Lee and his friends and sister waiting to see what would happen. They started a few minutes later in a surprisingly slow manor. Lee thought they were going very slowly until he heard some one in the crowed say " where are they mom, I can't see them." "Lee," asked Chrono, "Where did they go, the arena was empty." Lee looked confusingly at him and said, "Look, there right there and going kind of slowly. Kind of hard to miss." "Lee, are you alright," said Sarah. "Yes I am. Its you that I–" he stopped there. Something dawned on him; everyone said that at the beginning that they had just disappeared. He looked closely at the arena and he saw it. Wherever they were moving to, they were leaving faint burn marks where they had been. They were too faint to be noticed normally but Lee's exceptional SHOU. But he wondered to himself, "Had it always been this good." He wasn't sure why but now he was noticing every little detail. It then dawned on him exactly why he was the only one who could see them. He told them, " The reason you don't see them is because they are moving at a speed that goes beyond your perception. In other words, they are too fast for your eyes to keep up with." Everyone looked taken back at this bit of incredible news. Chrono suggested it would have been more probable that they just turned invisible. Nanoha couldn't understand it either. She was pouring all of her magic into her senses and still couldn't see anything. Lee then asked why he could see it. Nanoha looked questioningly at him and said, "I don't know. You are not using magic. That is for certain. I sense nothing." It then came to his mind. Something his father said just popped out of no-where. "Using ZERO TENSHI also has training benefits. Using it multiple times in a short amount of time helps hyper develop your senses quickly. Just don't do it on purpose due to the risks of the attack." It must have happened after his last fight. He had used the attack at least 3 times that day. He must of broken the limit after he went into Zero time combat with his sister. It would explain his enhanced sense of sight and hearing.

Meanwhile, on the stage, Sora and his father were dueling it out. They were fighting at insane speeds, even by their standards but to each other looked normal if not slow. This didn't help them much due to the fact they could only move as fast as they could see. It eventually got confusing enough to drive them a little bit faster. They were talking on the arena floor. They and Lee were the only ones who could hear it at all. Their speed surpassed sound. "So when did you pick up on ZAE SHUNPO Sora," their father asked. "I saw you do it once at home and practiced ever since. One demonstration was all I needed. "Their father looked impressed. Then he noticed something in the corner of his eyes. Though he knew they were going to fast for anyone to even find traces of their battle, He saw Lee following their movements and it seemed that he was doing it effortlessly. He was surprised for a moment and then realized he must of broken the limit with his last battle. He turned his attention to his other son who was still striking him. He realized that while he looked at Lee for a second, Sora had sped up and tricked him to do the same to the point that Sora's sword no longer seemed slow to him. John (their dad) was about to reach his maximum speed. He knew that Sora wouldn't be as fast as that so he sped up even more. To his surprise, Sora matched him. They reached what John thought was their maximum speed but Sora went further. He was going faster now. Even Lee now had to struggle to keep up with the two combatants. The crowed could now see that there was a battle going on. Their speed had hit a point that the METAL arena floor with Sakura's protection was tearing itself up from nothing more than pure friction.

Sora and his father were tearing the arena to shreds. John was having a bit of difficulty now. He couldn't keep up with his oldest sons speed. He was going to lose at this rate. Back up top with Lee and his friends, the crowds looked on in awe as they saw the ring seemingly tear itself up. Lee's friends looked on in shock. Nanoha was having another breakdown with her bad understanding about how any of this was possible. Lee looked observantly. He used some magic and once again found it easy to keep track of them. Then he noticed something. The bottom of both Sora's and his dad's feet were emitting something. He couldn't tell what it was. It couldn't be magic cause besides the fact that his own father had it too; it just didn't feel like magic to Lee, It felt more like their competitive swordsmanship in a visible form, which was the only way that Lee could describe it to himself. The battle was on a whole new level.

Both the combatants were nearing their limit. Sora was going to win at this rate so John braced himself for what he was about to do. He held his sword straight across his chest holding the handle and his palm on the blades end. "Prepare yourself Sora," he said. He then took three steps forward and vanished. The crowd who was watching the ring seemingly void of fighting got a big shot when the two fighters reappeared out of nowhere. "It was close dad," said Sora and he fell to the floor. It had 4 seemingly shallow slash marks, one on each limb. Their father then walked over and carried him to the infirmary. The ring was completely destroyed now down to the framework so it had been decided that the final match would be held at his real training dojo where their uncle taught his students a few miles up the road from his houses drive way in 2 hours.

Back in the infirmary, Sora woke up with his dad in a bed right next to him. It had been decided that only Lee and Sarah would go to see them as it was their family and there wasn't much room in the room anyway. Sarah was first to burst out with questions like what happened or How or any other question a normal person would ask in the situation. Lee, knowing that those questions could be answered later told her to go outside for a minute and he would explain for them later. This was more because Lee had a few questions of his own he needed answered. When Sarah left the room, Lee did two things. One was telepathically tell Sarah and Sakura to combine their abilities to make a healing barrier so that the two would heal but not find out. They made the invisible barrier but told him that it wouldn't last more than 20 minutes so they were going to have to make them heal quickly. Lee knew the questions he had would keep them occupied so it didn't matter.

"Okay," said Lee, "I need a few things explained." Lee already knew due to the look he got during the battle from his father that his father knew he saw the whole thing. "First off, what exactly is ZAE SHUNPO and what was that glow I saw from you feet?" Sora looked confused ant the glowing feet question. "Okay," said his dad, "to answer the first one, ZAE SHUNPO is an advance form of regular SHUNPO that is the byproduct of trying to create ZERO TENSHI. I needed a way to go fast so that was born from it. The way it is done relates to your second question." Sora butted in at this point, " but I didn't see a glow at all." "Well let me explain then," their father said, "the glow is best described as a manifestation of competitive spirit. It can be focused by anyone who is, in a phrase, able to break the limit. This means going beyond normal human limitation. It is hard to do. Out of everyone here, probably only those who made it to the finals and a few who I know didn't participate have reached that level. Here I would say about only 25 or so out of all the 300 relatives who came that know how to fight are at that level. It has many different names from many different styles of fighting around the world. Some call it Spiritual Power, some call it Chi energy, some call it energy from within, some call it physical emotion but most Japanese swordsmen call it Ki. This stands for Killing Intent, though it only means the emotions of competition. To answer how ZAE SHUNPO is done, you summon the power, usually unconsciously to you feet and pulse it out while doing SHUNPO. This boosts your speed up to much higher levels." Sora and Lee looked amazed at their father. "Okay, so are you saying that it has come naturally to me all this time," said Sora. "Yes," John replied, "every time you have used ZAE SHUNPO or whenever either of you uses ZERO TENSHI for that matter used Ki. Remind me to start teaching you more about this when we get home. You are both easily up to the required level to control it. "I have on more question," said Lee, "and I know Sora wants to know too. What did you do at the end of the battle to win." "Ah, that; I knew you would ask. That was ZERO HENITO. It is basically the same thing as Sarah's ZERO HERIKOTSU. In fact, I must thank her as I based it off of that. It is a move that can only be preformed while using some type of SHUNPO. It is an attack that requires only 8 steps to compete. It still focuses on the ankles though but the momentum comes from holding the sword in and as soon as you get into ZERO TIME on the third step, you extend your sword as far as possible with one hand and do four slashes and no more and stop in exactly one step. Like Sarah's attack, there is also pressure exerted on the wrists." They looked surprised for a second and said, " When did you make that move, I though you only learned about Sarah's attack today?" said Sora. "I did only learn about it today. To be honest, I just created it about 2 seconds before I used it on you. It was the only way I could of won in that situation. Believe it or not, you are faster that me Sora but that is to be expected. The Ki needed to use ZAE SHUNPO is from competitive spirit. Unfortunately on a level where I have no control over it, I couldn't be competitive enough towards my own son in a fight where I initially though I was going to win without this much effort. You threw me for a loop so my surprise held me back. Luckily for you that is my own fault for underestimating you so that is my loss. You on the other hand defiantly knew it was going to take everything you had to win so your competitive spirit was at its max creating as much Ki as possible. Today I only won by a nose hair. Feel proud of yourself Sora, I defiantly am." Now with their questions answered, they headed for the new location so Lee could fight his dad.


	16. Father vs Son: The CHAMPIONSHIP Match

The Haruno Chronicles

Ch. 16 We finally see an honest battle of Lee vs. John. The Final chapter in the tournament but are way back to magic is closer when another mystery appears.

Disclaimer: Everything, material, characters, locations ect… are property of the respective people.

Chapter 16 – Father vs. Son, THE CHAPIONSHIP MATCH

Sarah, Chrono, Nanoha, and Sarah were the first ones to get there besides Uncle Will. They had teleported there to get good seats for Sora and Lee's mom Mary. They went inside to find that the students were still there. They were helping with the preparation if the arena floor. Their uncle was super reinforcing it with strong steel. The students looked puzzled as to why but they did what their master told them to just the same. They were told since it was still before they usually went home that they could stay and watch in hopes that they could learn something if they could actually see anything. They were not family members so they weren't anything but normal but they could still be inspired. Everyone else got there within the next half an hour and seated. It took about an hour for the place to be set up and the fighters still hadn't arrived yet. Lee, Jonathan and Sora arrived 5 minutes before the fight. Sora headed for the stands and Lee and John headed for the floor.

It started with intense but normal speed combat. By normal it meant normal SHUNPO speed that was still blindingly fast. They matched off against each other blow for blow. Lee then did a rapid-fire jab attach called RETETSU which also means attack of 200 strikes. It was blindingly fast but weak. It made all two hundred shots in 7 seconds; about a quarter of them hit but seamed ineffective. They were really light hits. Next came his dad with an attack that Lee had never seen before, he slashed down at the ground and something seemed to slide off the sword and he felt as if he had just been hit hard with a stick in the stomach. "Like my EZUNA," said his dad, "Here, I'll explain it, a small amount of Ki and a powerful swing that creates a vacuum creates a kind of flying blade with the air. It is quite nice because I can attack from a distance." Lee ran it through his head and tried to find a way to counter it. He was also throughout the entire battle trying to think about his Ki and how he could use it. Now that he knew what it was, he noticed that he could feel it too. His father was launching another EZUNA at him. This one seemed to travel through the ground so he dodged with a jump. This was a bad move because it left him defenseless in midair. His father tried to launch another EZUNA through the air this time. Lee decided to try and please the crowd. That was actually the reason they were going slower than usual, to be flashy and get the crowd excited. Lee decided an EZUNA was a nice choice. He surprised everyone and did a sideways slash trying to put his Ki into it and to his surprise, he produced a very visible wave exactly like the EZUNA and it tore the transparent one his dad made into nothing. His dad, surprised at this barley had time to react. Not knowing the power, he decided to dodge. This ended up being a good decision due to the fact that it cleanly sliced through the arena floor cutting off the steel edged corner to make a small sloping side. Everyone looked surprised at this. "His dad looked at Lee with amazement. He had never seen someone with so much Ki at his age. It was as strong as his, which could be potentially hazardous. "How about we stop using the EZUNA," his dad said, "I don't want to destroy more of Will's property or my hide for that matter." Lee, who hadn't expected to even make something remotely as well as his dads agreed out of fear or his own and others safety.

They continued their battle, which escalated quickly. The crowd was roaring with excitement. The last time they saw such a powerful attack like Lee's was 25 years ago when someone used an attack to hit his opponent and ended up destroying the building by hitting the beams with a wave of Ki like Lee's. They kept speeding up. Their speed was evenly matched. They fought for twenty minutes. Then Lee decided he had given the crowd enough of a show and it was time to get things started. Though he never had tried it before, he tried to focus his Ki into his feet. His dad was coming for a KUZAITO or power thrust and slash combo. It is actually one move that utilizes the speed and power of a thrust with the flexibility and freedom of movement of a slash to create a powerful one hit attack. Lee waited for his father to get in close and then he vanished. The crowd and his dad were in shock. Just then Lee delivered a downward swing to his fathers shoulder that made a nice connection. His father jumped back and realized what his son had just done. Without even practicing once, Lee had not only perfectly copied his EZUNA but from only a small description had copied the ZAE SHUNPO technique as well. This was dangerous for John as Lee had potentially more Ki then he did which gave him the potential to be faster than him if he didn't act quick. His father then used ZAE SHUNPO and caught up to him. They decided to try and go for the good fight and started to attack each other with their best techniques. Lee surprised his dad again with his seemingly god given talent for copying moves and attacked him with his own KUZAITO twice in succession. His father decided to follow suit and attacked Lee with RETETSU. They repeated this trade of attacks going back and forth reputedly.

Jonathan called for a time out. "What is this about," said Lee but he had a good idea. "Lets stop beating around the bush and go all out." Lee said, "I thought we were going all out." "How can you do that without taking off your weights first." Lee then said in a casual voice, "Oh yeah, I forgot I was wearing weights." Lee and his dad took off any weights that they still had on. In the fight with Sora, they took them off at the start but now they were doing it on a different level taking off both preliminary sets and the second, much heavier sets that Lee hadn't taken off yet. He was curious on how much he had really improved. They got back into the arena after the crowd stopped being in shock after watching the people moving as fast as lightning take off accumulatively 50 pounds a piece. Nanoha seemed to almost faint at the sheer thought of carrying around an extra 50 pounds by choice. In fact, even Chrono and Sakura were having a hard time believing their eyes. Lee and his dad decided to not use ZAE SHUNPO for the rest of the match. It would have been dangerous. There is only so much a body can handle at once and the dramatic change may have torn up their bodies.

John made the first move, speeding at Lee at an insane speed. It seemed to be even faster than his ZAE SHUNPO a minute earlier. Lee knew he was in for it but to his surprise, when his dad tried to swing and he dodged by circling him, he went so fast that he ended up running straight past him and losing his balance. His father looked a bit surprised. Lee got up and tried running across the arena to his dad. He then just realized how much the weights were holding him back. "Surprised Lee," his dad said, "I will let you in on a little secret. It is not just the weight of the weights that the training equipment was doing to slow you down. They were placed on those spots for a reason. They cover up the area where the muscle is most active and forces it to try and not move much. This means that your movement from you muscles itself without the weight was being cut in half. The weight is just for muscle growth but the Weights themselves are also like restraints. They keep the muscles intact. Therefore when you took the first set off, you gained another half of that muscles power put due to there being two weights in each spot, you only gained the a quarter of the restriction of your muscle back. Then you got the bigger one off and gained another 25 percent. Now add to the fact that you have two legs and you become exactly 100% faster from muscle restriction alone. Now add the fact you got the extra weight removed and you actually increase you speed by 200%. That is 4 times. A real shocker isn't it." Lee looked amazed at what his father had trained him into without him even knowing.

I took Lee a few minutes to get the hang of it but he eventually gained complete control over his speed again. He was clearly faster than he was a few minutes ago while using ZAE SHUNPO. It was back to an all you can take and more high speed bout of father vs. son. The two combatants were starting to tire out. They were also going too fast to be seen by the audience but Lee had a suspicion that he could go a little faster if he concentrated. He tried and to both fighters surprise, Lee seemed to almost double his pace again. His father was getting worried now. He wasn't sure if he could keep up anymore. He decided to try and go all out now. He too was able to speed up to almost match but not quite achieve Lee's speed. John had to admit to himself that his speed training had worked almost too well for his sons. They both seemed to be faster than him now. He almost felt like an old man except that he was still faster than anyone outside the arena at the time. Lee then did a quick slashing combo he had developed during training. His father saw it coming but had no time to dodge. He instead countered with a lightning fast thrust to side slash combo that knocked Lee off balance causing him to retreat a few yards backward.

Lee looked into his dad's eyes and they both knew without words what had to be done if one of them was to win. They both went to opposite sides of the arena. They both then faced each other and held their swords up. They aligned the hilt to be even with their face and put their other hand on the tip of the blade. Next they both bent their legs. The left foot back and diagonal from the upper diagonal right foot, both facing straight forward. Then they took the first step, then the second step, both slowly to build up momentum. Then the third step and then they vanished. They both entered zero time. Their initial thrusts collided at the points and then they went, inside zero time, into a risk it all battle of slashes. Their swords clashed inside the Zero time battle as they tried to make a connection. Both knew the first one to hit would win due to the exhaustion they had both suffered from for half the battle. Lee made a swing for his dad, which he dodged and his father did the same with similar results. Then, his father did a strong downward slash straight to the top of his head. He thought his father was going to accidentally kill him. His father looked at it and instantly tried to pull it back but couldn't for some reason. Probably due to the fact that he had no more power left in him because he poured it all into this attack. Then, very briefly, a small dark golden barrier appeared right in front of Lee's face. It pushed the attack to the side towards his shoulder. Lee was in shock and didn't realize what happened next. They both reappeared at opposite sides of the arena from where they started. To the crowd's surprise, when they looked at the combatants, they saw that both had a single slash in the exact opposite place. Lee had it going down on the left. John, his dad, had his going up on the right dangerously close to his heart but a little ways off. Then John said, " just a bit more" and he dropped his sword that broke into tiny splinters on contact with the floor. Lee replied in a tired weary voice, "What the hell are you going on about," and with that Lee fainted backwards revealing that he had innumerable slashes on his chest. His sword crumbled into dust as it dropped. His father looked around to measure the damage. There was a scorched crack leading to the middle from where they had both started meeting in the middle where there was a crater from the sheer power of the blows that they took in Zero Time. John went over to his son and carried him all the way back to the infirmary.

The Infirmary had been moved to the spare room in the back of the training dojo where they had just fought. Lee woke up and looked at the time. It was 2 in the morning. The match had started at what he thought was 9 so he thought he had been out for 4 hours. Just then the nurse came in and said, "Don't worry, it's fast. You've only been unconscious for about 20 minutes." Lee felt better at this. He didn't want to believe that his father would hurt him too badly. He had done worse in training before. It seemed his dad was resting in the bed next to him. Lee then realized that all of his weights were back on and seemed to be heavier ones. His dad got up from the bed and said, "good match. You were close; I'll give you that. I'd say that you're as tough as Sora but defiantly the faster. You got some damn good speed." Lee then asked, "Why do I have heavier weights on." His dad replied, "To help your muscles relax. As your muscles are still not used to all the extra weight like mine are, they couldn't relax and kept stiffening up which isn't good. The heavier weights are to help them readjust to having weights on them. Being heavier ones is just because yours seemed to have been destroyed in the fight so I am lending you mine for now because you need them more than I do." Just then, everyone from Sakura to his own mother came rushing in. They all started asking him if he was okay and what happened and other stuff.

About a half an hour later, they left for the end of the reunion party at the mansion. Though the tournament was more than triple as long as it usually was due to the amount of times they had to repair the ring, it was already 11 at night when the end of reunion party started. No one had eaten dinner yet so they all dug in non-the less. Everyone went over to Lee and congratulated him. Then they all looked over to the mini stage where Jonathan was being given the solid gold 24-inch trophy. Then Lee went up for the runner up prize. It was a check for 100,000 yen (around $1000 in American money). He thanked his uncle for it and started thinking about what he would spend it on. They partied until about 1 in the mourning and then they all went home. Sakura's and Chrono's Parents were a little worried due to their children's and forign exchange students lateness but they were alright. Nanoha apparently had recorded the entire tournament using raging hearts visual playback so that Lance could watch. He had after all stayed home to keep an eye on the potential Saren Stone appearance. He watched in amazement as She tried to explain what happened as best she could. In the end, they decided that these sword people were just not normal and stopped thinking about it. Lance who understood the original logic of Lee's swordsmanship was now at as much of a loss as Nanoha. Lee arrived home a few minutes after his friends and headed straight for his room. He jumped onto his bead and fell straight asleep.


	17. The Park Case, SOLVED

The Haruno Chronicles

Ch. 17 Mystery solved, or is it. An elaborate test is devised to show the answer but what will come of it.

Disclaimer: Everything, material, characters, locations ect… are property of the respective people.

Chapter 17 – The Park Case, Solved

Due to severe exhaustion, everyone in the family slept for the next day. This was mostly because of the tournament the previous day but also for the lateness of the party. Lee didn't even train for two days like Sora and his father. After a few days though, he got back to his training. More importantly, he was starting a new type of training. His father decided to teach him about Ki. He first started by explaining exactly what Ki was. This was essential for knowing how to use it.

His father started to explain it to him. First he explained exactly what it was. It was created from the unconscious competitive spirit. When this reached a certain level in a person of equal level, it could become physical or for a better word, tangible. When the two elements mixed on a conscious level, it could be somewhat manipulated. The only thing you need to do to make it consciously is know that you have it. In other words, just see or hear about it makes you able to use it. The way you manipulate it is also as surprisingly simple. You just think about it and it will happen on its own. The only reason not many people could se it or knew about it was that to understand the right type of being to use it, you needed exceptional skill. To Lee, it felt much different from himself manipulating magic. It felt much different in the way it was used. First off, he had to concentrate much harder to maintain it unlike his magic, which acted exactly the way he made it. To him, it was like the difference was like night and day. Also, he had a hard time manifesting it when he wasn't battling unlike his dad who could do it while relaxing. It took Lee a few days but he eventually too got the hang of it. He was only able to do the EZUNA and ZAE SHUNPO but his dad said that it was the type of thing that only experience could help.

Later, he went over to Chrono's house with Sarah and Sora to go and discuss their next move. When he got there, he went up to Chrono's room and found that everyone was there already. He sat down and then he remembered something from the reunion. "I have something on my mind that's bothering me." Nanoha said, "What would that be. "Well," he began, "During the match with my dad, we were in Zero Time so I am guessing you didn't notice but when me and my dad did Zero Tenshi, we ended up going into intense combat. It was a risk all sword fight inside Zero Time and dad accidentally made a mistake. He swung a little too low and it was going straight for my head. At that moment, I thought I was going to die but then, for only a second, the dark gold barrier appeared in between Dad and me and sort of pushed the sword to the side a bit towards my right shoulder probably saving my life. And another thing was for the first time, I was able to feel the source. It was strong; really strong. If it were an enemy, we'd all be dusted in no time flat. The strange thing was that I couldn't pinpoint it but it was definitely inside the building in the room with us. It also felt strangely friendly but that could be a deception. I want your input on this."

Everyone thought to themselves for a few minutes and then Lance spoke up. "Okay, lets put the facts on the table. First off is the list of what they have done so far. The first time was when Lee's life was in danger in the first confrontation we had with the girl named Fate. The barrier saved his life and due course allowed him to win. The second time was when Sarah's life was in danger when she first got her powers. The third time was with Sora when he first got his powers as well and finally there was the one at the reunion during the sword fight. Now we should list what we know about this person. One is that he so far doesn't seem like an enemy. Two is that he can produce barriers on the fly from great distances. Three is that he is a master of hiding his own traces as to mot be detected. And four, from all the previous, we can assume that this is an exceptional mage with extensive training and experience. One more thing; it seems that this person has a strong connection or other point of interest with Lee's family. So far, they have only protected Lee, Sarah or Sora. From this bit of information, I am going to assume that the person was in fact, one of Lee's relatives."

Everyone looked astonished at Lance. From tiny little clips of incomplete information, he had deducted a fully reasonable and complete theory on the mysterious guardian character. Before they had comprehended all of this however, Lance started again, "And I still have more. Due to the barrier that formed during Lee's championship match with his dad, we should also assume that this person is also a great fighter. It formed when Lee and his dad were at there fastest, which means that the person who casted it must have been able to keep up with them. With this in mind, we can also assume that it was someone in the finals." "But wait," Lee interjected, "Now the theory is sounding a little bias. It would be impossible for them to keep up with me and my dad." "Why is that?" said Lance, "If you can run at that speed, then logically it should be possible for someone else to do the same." "Lance, you just don't seem to get the idea of this attack. It doesn't use magic so its laws and limitations do not bind it. ZERO TENSHI means ZERO. When in the attack, you enter Zero Time. There is no faster or keeping up after that. Not even a 1000th of a second passes by between the start and finish of the attack. Therefore, the other person could not have reacted fast enough. It would take at least one one-thousandth of a second to react and that is far more than the attack itself. ZERO MEANS ZERO. There is no time, no distance, no sound, not even light can keep up." Lance had to think for a bit before he was able to grasp what it meant. "Okay Lee. Based on what you've said, you enter a ZERO ZONE where the only two anything that can do anything is you and your father. If this is true like you said, then we know who it is." Lee looked shocked. When everyone looked at him to go on, he said, "Well isn't it obvious, the only other person in that space is Lee's Father. Therefore, Lee's Father must be the mystery Mage."

Lee, Sarah and Sora looked shocked at this supposed proclamation of their dad. They just couldn't fathom the idea of their dad being the person without their knowing. "And how are you so sure that it wasn't just a special type of magic that you don't know about," said Sarah. "I'm with Sarah," said Sora, "I can't believe it is my dad with just that much evidence. If you can prove it, I'll believe it." Lance replied, "Well there is plenty of proof. Lee gave the first bit with the part about reacting to Zero Tenshi. If that wasn't enough, they always knew exactly where you were when it happened or they wouldn't have been there in time. AND there is also one more big piece of crucial evidence that makes it the most logical choice." "And what is this so-called great evidence," said Lee defiantly. "It's you, Sarah, and Sora. You are the final piece of evidence." "How do you figure that one?" "Well, for starters, like I said, they knew where you were each time; who better than your father to know where you were. Two, the mystery person only protected you three. That is something only a father would do to look after his children. The final reason is the most important one. It is all of you magical powers, all three of yours. Remember Lee, when I first met you; I told you how I thought you had gotten magical abilities. I told you then that a very, very, very minute amount of the population, maybe 1 in every 30 million people has magic and they are all at random. Now, don't you think it a bit odd that three of those numbers would be as closely related as being siblings'? Now it is probable that Chrono and Sakura had gotten powers like that but for all three of you to have gotten magic would be unthinkable in that fashion. Then the question would come up of where they were from and that is the proof. The origin of your powers must be your dad. You probably inherited your powers. And if you need more proof than that, the fact that your powers activated on their own is proof. Only a mage born in a family of mages has that happen. In order to activate Sakura and Chrono's powers, I had to use magic to make them activate. And that's all the evidence that you should need. Your father is the person who has been protecting you three."

Lee, Sarah and Sora almost fell out of their chairs. They couldn't believe it but at the same time, they couldn't see a flaw in Lance's theory. It was perfect. All the points were explained, suitable reasons given and all flaws amended. It just made perfect sense. Lee, Sora, Sarah and the rest were silent for almost ten minutes absorbing what had just been concluded. Then Lee spoke out, "Okay, I am going to have my dad follow me around all day. And I am going to make a little test. Lance said that he felt a very faint signal from the large city park across town. I will force my dad there and while I am doing that, Lance will send out a pulse of magic to purposely activate it. Then at a point half way through the fight I'll make a mistake on purpose and then we will see what happens. They all agreed on this and made preparations. They decided to let Lee fight alone but would be hiding out of sight just in case. Lance would follow them as a ferret so he could put up the barrier quickly and to activate the Saren Stone. Lee decided to tell his dad it would be a good place to train.

When Lee got home, it was already dinnertime. During dinner, Lee brought up the subject of a different training regiment for tomorrow. His father asked what they should do and Lee asked if they could go outdoors for tomorrows training as a change of pace and as he predicted, his dad suggested the large park on the other side of the city. Lee knew that his dad liked going to this park so he was confident he was going to suggest it. Lee agreed and like planned, when his dad was about to ask Sora and Sarah to come too, they heard the phone ring. They had telepathically sent a signal to Nanoha and Chrono to call. They both called to confirm a made up reservation with Sarah and Sora for a made up plan they were supposed to have made a week ago. John, disappointed said that it would be good quality time with Lee. Lee knew he wouldn't try to move the date because his father always goes through with something once he had planned to do it. So they decided to leave at noon the next day.

During training that night, they continued with Ki training. To Lee's surprise, it turned out that Ki was actually a lot more like magic than he first thought. After a week and a half of solid Ki training, it flowed more willingly. His dad said that learning Ki this fast, even for Lee was unimaginable. Lee was now able to manifest it at will with a little more than a bit of concentration. It turned out that Ki needed a sort of conduit to be used unlike magic. In its purest form, you could make it into a small glowing ball but you couldn't do anything with it. It needed to go into something. Most commonly, it was a sword or a weapon of some sort but it could also be limbs of the body like hands and feet. There was one exception; you couldn't extend it out of the conductor. You could shoot it but it was completely out of your control once it left. Kind of like a bullet that was just shot, you could aim it but once it was launched, there wasn't anything you could do with it. This was very unlike magic that could easily be manipulated from a distance and was still a part of you even when it left you. Ki became it's own entity once launched or used.

His father was teaching him the enchanted sword technique. It was a good technique to start Ki training with because it is simple but very useful and great for practicing Ki with. It was a technique that enhanced swords striking power and speed a bit by putting a good amount of Ki through the entire sword. Lee found it surprisingly difficult. It took a lot of concentration to maintain it within the sword. Another thing about Ki is that it always wanted to move so keeping it in one place was like trying to hold water in your hands. You may be able to hold it for a bit but it drains away eventually through the tinniest of cracks. Therefore, you had to make sure you left none of those holes open. In terms of Ki, that meant concentrating on the entire sword constantly until it became second nature. His dad said that this type of conditioning took a long time to achieve. Lee was able to maintain it for only about 15 seconds at a time by the time he had gotten the Ki going into the sword part down. That wasn't a long time and it counted, as his seconds so being in Zero time didn't help at all. Lee ended up being really frustrated. Sora who was also doing Ki training with Lee was a little bit better but that was to be expected, as he was 7 years older. He was able to keep the technique going for 23 seconds and it was a little bit more powerful than when Lee did it. Sarah tried to do Ki training but even though she was exceptionally smart, she still had the mind of an eleven-year-old girl and thus, couldn't concentrate long enough or get the competitiveness in her strong enough to manifest Ki. Her father told her that due to most men's stubbornness, it was naturally easier to be competitive. Also, Lee was the youngest person he could think of that could even use Ki and didn't expect Sarah to use it for at least another year when her training would have made her ultra competitive. She frowned for a bit until her father taught her another sword technique perfect for matches. It was an intense high-speed triple thrust combo that hit the three freeze points in the chest. When all three of these points were hit at high speeds in quick succession, it produced a temporary weakening in the arm and leg muscles by a significant portion. This reduced their strength and speed to a minimum allowing for an easy win. Sarah, though determined had a little trouble with the technique. Even with regular SHUNPO, it all had to be done in 1.5 seconds. She was still at it when the training session was over. Her father told her she could resume later and that he didn't expect her to learn it in one night. This was a high level technique which took an exceptional amount of practice to master.

Lee got a good night sleep and woke up late the next day. It was eleven when he had breakfast with his dad and mom. Sarah and Sora had left earlier to make the necessary preparations for their testing plan. Lee had to meditate for a few hours to concentrate all of his power into a small glass object. It would be his conductor for the spell. Lance, not wanting there to be any flaw or reason to doubt was making a special barrier spell that would hide any and all traces of magical beings while not making normal people disappear. Also, it made it so magical beings couldn't hurt normal people and normal people couldn't see them. It was an extraordinarily difficult spell to do that required a lot of magic. As such, it had to be prepared beforehand to gather up the amount of magic needed. To keep it all in one place, he was using the glass ball. It was due to all this complexity that Lance didn't use this spell all that often.

At noon, Lee and his dad set out for the large park. Its real name was Hareatsea Park but no one ever called it that. It was just the large city park but back in the feudal era, it was the sight of some famous battle. They decided as part of their training and to test out Lee, they would go there on foot. Lee had learned another technique with no name that released a short burst of invisible Ki from his feet that let him jump really high. They decided to have a race and they ran around the edge of the town. They used ZAE SHUNPO. Lee had never used ZAE SHUNPO for long distance before but figured it couldn't be too much different from running around a ring. It turned out that it wasn't. He just turned a lot less. At full speed, Lee ended up beating his dad by only 2 yards. Considering the distance was almost 20 kilometers, it was pretty close. It took them only 5 minutes to get there. They must have really been booking it.

When they were approaching the park, Lance sent a bunch of small pulses of his magic all through the park to force the Saren stone to react and activate to test Lee's father. He knew it would take time to do it this way instead of one really big pulse but he was supposed to be as subtle as possible so he decided slow and silent was the best way. Lee knew this and they had estimated that this method would take at least an hour for a full reaction so in the mean time; Lee really did train with his dad. His dad for a change of pace was teaching him another important skill but for use out of battle. It was called RETASETSU. It was a special technique that let you limit your overall power output. This skill was a type that could be conditioned really fast. He had already taught Sora the technique and was going to teach Sarah next. The technique was created to suppress advanced swordsman's elite and unfathomable power as to not expose it to public. It would allow Lee to act normal when in public like if he were at school playing. He could limit his power output to that of a normal person. Lee thought this would be very useful. Ever since he had started training and gained above human strength and speed, he was worried what his peers would say when they saw it. He would either be labeled as a freak or a superhero and he didn't want to be known as either.

The technique was also good for Ki training. Though it is hard to maintain, it liked to flow around in the body a lot. This naturally enhanced muscle performance but also made the muscles grow. This technique reduced the muscles size as well to what it would be at that level. It would also look weird if he came into school all muscled up and looking like a jock. It also sealed up almost all of his Ki. It allowed for a little Ki but not enough to do more than to enhance his performance by a tiny bit. He got the hang of it in only a half an hour. It was easy and complex at the same time. It wasn't a temporary state either. He more or less sealed the power and he didn't have to exert any effort after that. The actual suppression was the hard part but Lee got it down very quickly. His dad also taught him to release it quickly. All it took was a brief moment of concentration but during that moment, you had to concentrate at an almost unthinkable level. If done improperly, it could damage the brain but it was hard to mess up. You would have to be hit pretty hard during that one moment to mess up. Another thing was that when he released the technique, it seemed that a single pulse of Ki emanated from him creating cracks and tearing up the ground near him. His dad said that this was normal at first. It was from the pent up Ki that had been suppressed that was bursting to go. To eliminate this was very easy. Right before releasing, just focus on the Ki and release while sill focusing on the Ki. This would make it flow through the body instead of flowing out. Lee again got it in only two tries.

His father had 2 tests for him to see how well he could do it. The first was to see what levels he could do it at. His technique could also release percentages of the sealed powered so the user could release some but not all of their power. Lee was flawless at it. The second test was also one just for fun but also to test the basics. With all but one percent of their power suppressed, they would have a sort of unannounced exhibition match in the center of the park. It would be fun to try a fight like a normal person. They started fighting. The passers by stopped to watch this fun duel. Due to the suppression of their fighting power, to the audience, it only looked like a really good kendo student and his father were practicing. It looked positively normal. Lee kind of liked it. This way, while still looking impressive, he wasn't going to fast so the audience could see him, which allowed him to be cheered on. Also he wasn't getting odd looks like he did at the reunion for having amazing skill. In the end, Lee and his father tied when they both for a split second released a small burst of power for a slight burst of speed like adrenalin. They ended with both of their wooden swords at each other's throats. Then they went and bought some ice cream. They were having a lot of fun when they heard a crash.

They ran outside, then Lance said telepathically, "Lee, change in plans. The barrier spell is not ready yet so we are going plan B." Lee knew what plan B was because they made it last night. The plan was to make a simple physical containment barrier with a dimension shift. This would keep everyone in the barrier from going away. It would be the size of the city and anyone who tried coming near the city would be frozen in time until the barrier was released. To Lance, this type of thing was child's play. Later, Lance would erase everyone but those with magic's memory. Lance could also do that with relative ease. The barrier went up and as it did, the people inside it shrieked and started saying weird things in a panic. Some thought aliens, another said it was the end of the world and others just fainted. Lee and his father left for the scene. They went to where they had been fighting before but now there was a large crater. In it there was what seamed to be a giant three-headed dog. Lee's dad took out a metal katana and then took out another for Lee. "Lee, were going in." His father released all of the suppression and hurtled straight at it. He used his version of the empowerment technique to slice the monster to bits. Lee then undid his suppression and did the same. Unfortunately, the monster just regenerated.

Lee was looking at the public and saw them with looks of fright on their faces. He went over to them and told them that everything was going to be all right. He went over to try and cut the monster again. This time he collided with the monster and to his great surprise, the monster broke through the sword cutting it into two and Lee felt it, his Ki was wiped away, He then realized that Ki wouldn't help him here. He was sent through the air and back several yards. His dad looked on in horror thinking his son was about to die. Lee then remembered that everyone's memory would be erased anyway so he thought, "What the hay." He stopped himself in mid air with his magic. Everyone looked on in misbelieve at the floating teen. He then tossed away his broken katana. His dad looked on in amazement as his son flew towards the monster unarmed. Lee gathered his power in his right fist to strike. He hit it straight on with his **BREAK IMPACT**.

He flew down to his dad. "Are you alright," he asked. His father said, "Wow, who could of guessed." Lee then said, "Give it up, I know you aren't that surprised that your son can do magic too." This was a gamble but it didn't matter right then. There was a short pause but to Lee, it felt like an eternity. He actually had no idea about this but decided that if he were wrong, his dad's memory would just be erased. Just then, a blast of dark M.E. (magical energy,) came hurtling at them. Then the Dark gold barrier formed right in front of them. "So you finally figured it out." His dad was glowing gold now with the energy output for the shield. "So it really was you all those times," Lee said, "like at the park and during our match." "Well what type of father would I be if I'd let you die on me when I could have prevented it. So, you ready to do this," and Lee's dad took out a dark navy blue marble. "You know it," Lee replied, taking out his own. "RAGING FURY, SET UP." In a bright flash of light, both transformed at the same time. Lee looked over to his father. His father was now wearing black, wide ended pants with a gold vest with black stripes over it at odd angles. Also, he had a black handled staff with a darker than Lee's golden head. It looked Identical to Lee's head.

His father then surprised Lee. He shouted, "**GLOWING SHOOTER,"** and shot a small but concentrated blast of magic at the beast, which deflected it with its tail. Lee looked surprised when he saw his own attack being used by his father. "SHOOTING MODE." His father's staff changed into the same as Lee's in shooting mode and as such, Lee followed suit. "Watch and learn. **ENERGY TWIST SHOT."** John's staff shot out a weird beam of energy. It seemed to be spiraling at an insanely fast rate. It shot straight at the beast and to Lee's amazement it went straight through it. Unfortunately, it just regenerated. Lee then set up to do his SHINING BUSTER and when his dad saw this, he pointed his staff at the monster and prepared to fire and said, "Lets make this a double." They were both gathering energy now. "**SHINING BUSTER**," and then both of them at the same time launched an amazingly powerful buster wave. Mid-way, the attacks combined to create one super wave. It took off the monsters head and then it fell over. Then it regenerated and got back up again.

Lee was running out of options. " Dad, can you get it into the air." "Sure, but why?" "Just trust me on this." Lee's dad decided to go with it and prepared for his assault. "**PILAR OF LIGHT!"** His father shoved his staff downwards into the ground and it seemed to send powerful pulses of power through the ground. It left the surface where it traveled looking like rubble. Then, under the Monstrous three-headed dog, "**RISE**_**!!!**_**"** a giant dark gold pillar of pure M.E. shot up out of the ground right under the beast, launching it high into the air. "Okay, my turn," Lee said, pointing his staff into the air right at the dog. Three super large rings appeared in front of the staff. Lee felt a new power he had never felt before. "**PURE LIGHT BREAKER, NEW VARIATION.**" A giant sphere of M.E. appeared in the middle of the three rings. Then a super large magic circle appeared under him. It covered at least a good 500 yards. "POWER SET," said Lee's blue marble Haruno. "Okay, **PURE LIGHT **_**BREAKER!!!**_" The blast was enormous. A giant wave of pure bright golden magical energy shot from the giant sphere Lee had created. The three-headed wolf summoned a large blast of black magic from each of its three mouths. Then it combined them into one huge blast of energy that it shot at Lee's attack. They collided in mid-air but it was no competition. Lee's attack disintegrated the monsters blast. Then it collided with the beast itself. The monster was disintegrated into nothing. The attack didn't stop there though; it continued to the sky where it parted the clouds from just passing and it eventually went into orbit. It completely demolished Lance's physical barrier just by touching it. Lance put up another one quickly to be safe. The air where it had passed through was still full of static, even after the attack disappeared. Not even ashes remained. The only thing left was the Saren stone. "SEALING MODE," said Lee. The head changed back to normal and wings appeared from right below the staff head. "Number 19, **SEAL**." The Saren stone floated over to Lee's staff and Haruno absorbed it. It confirmed, "NUMBER 19, SEALED."

"Good work Lee." "Thanks." " And Lee, you can tell your friends to come out now. I know they've been following us." With shocked expressions on their faces, Nanoha, Sora, Sakura, Chrono and Sarah all came out from some bushes behind Lee. "So you knew we were there the whole time," said Lance, transforming as he said it. "I noticed since we left the house. If you're going to hide, do it properly. I could feel your presence from a mile away and then some. Your might as well leave signs saying "I'm over here," for all the difference it would make." "So I guessed right Lee," said Lance. "I guess you did." Then John jumped in again, "SO what gave it away." "Well, lots of stuff really. I had a small suspicion when Sarah got her powers, which grew when Sora discovered his, but the real undeniable proof was the time Lee saw it at the dojo. It was like the corner piece of the puzzle connecting the two different sides." "Very smart. Now I am guessing someone like you, being as smart as you are has a good clean-up plan. "On it," said Lance, "I prepared this earlier." He took out another glass ball. It contains a premade spell for memory erasing. It only works on the non-magic so its okay for us. He threw it at the ground and it shattered tiny pieces. Then a big flash of light proceeded. When it died down, everyone was frozen. "They will unfreeze once we return to normal space with no memory of what happened." They all released their Barrier Jackets and Lance dismissed his barrier and then everyone unfroze in the exact same spot at the exact same time as when the barrier first went up. They all continued as if they hadn't seen anything.

"So I guess you want some explanations now and I think you deserve them but we can't talk here can we. I also think It would look weird if we just went to one of your houses. A full-grown man hanging out with teenagers doesn't look too good and our house isn't big enough. I guess I will bring you aboard then." Everyone looked confused at this last statement. They weren't sure what he meant. John then took out his Dark blue marble and said, "RAGING FURY, can you make a connection." It lit up for a second, then said, " Connection made." As if to talk to his marble, he said, "Amy, could you open the door for our guests please." Then a girls voice came out from the marble, "Oki Doki Mr. Captain Sir." "You know I don't like being called that Amy." At that point, a sort of weird glowing circle appeared in front of them. Lee, Sarah, Sora, Sakura and Chrono just stood there but Lance, Nanoha and John just walked straight into it, disappearing when they entered. Not wanting to be left behind, they followed suit and walked into the circle. They reappeared in a strange techy looking room. They saw the others waiting at the rooms door. "Come on, I'll show you to the control room." They all followed John through a series of complicated hallways until he stopped in front of a large door. "Here we are." He placed his hand on a panel on the door and the panel turned green. Then the door opened.


	18. The TSAB – John is a Commander?

The Haruno Chronicles

Ch. 18 Very important chapter, many things revealed, pasts and flash back, explanations and a test. Many things are connected but other mysteries made.

I would also like to take the time to explain about rankings. Here is an in-depth guide. They are as follows:

D class – The weakest mages, these are ground troops in the TSAB if they can make it into the TSAB at all. Power levels are under 10,000,000

C class – The most common mages to be found in the ground forces and other teams C ranking means that the mages Power level is over 10,000,000.

B Class – A slightly more impressive mage, making up the lower ranks of officers. Their power levels are at least 50,000,000

B+ Class – Slightly higher than B class at power level of 75,000,000

A Class – The more elite mages and higher-ranking officers. This is where we get some of the specialists.

A/A+– The Lower A ranks are the weakest specialists. Many of them are instructors and the like. Power level is 90,000,000/110,000,000

AA/AA+ – The Arial platoons and the sub-lieutenants here. Power levels are 120,000,000/130,000,000

AAA/AAA+ – This is where many of the lieutenants, Arial captains and captains are. Also some specialists are here as well. Power Level is 140,000,000/145,000,000

S class – The home of the super elite, the masters and the Highest-ranking officers

S/S+ – The Higher level captains and lower captain commanders or the extra gifted. Power Level 150,000,000/ 175,000,000

SS/SS+ – The captain commanders and only the elite are in this rank. Power Levels are 225,000,000/250,000,000

SSS/SSS+ – The highest ranks without going to the special forces are here. It is a prerequisite for becoming a General or the Supreme General Commander. Power Levels are 275,000,000/300,000,000

Z class – Only the chosen few ever attain this rank. Almost all of them are born with special abilities that set them apart from the rest. These mages make up the SPECIAL FORCES elite unit of the TSAB. When others fail, they don't. Every mage that has ever achieved this rank, without fail, has made a place for them in history. Power Level – 500,000,000

Disclaimer: Everything, material, characters, locations ect… are property of the respective people.

Chapter 18 – The Time-Space Administration Bureau – John is a commander?

Inside, they couldn't believe their eyes. There was a giant window in front of them with some weird mixture of dimensional space outside. Also, for the first time, they all realized that they were moving. There were many people at different stations through out the deck and all of them were hard at work at some screen or other device. "Hi YA Mr. Cap-i-tan sir," said a young lady at a control station. "How's things been Amy," said John. "Nothing worth mentioning. How was your Vacation?" "All good, and has _that _been completed." "Yes, but I don't know why you wanted it so badly, the training room seams better." Lee and the others just watched as Lee's dad talked with this complete stranger and it seemed as if she knew a lot about Jonathan.

"Eh hem." Lee interjected the conversation, tired of waiting for them to finish. " Ah yes, you probably have a lot of stuff that needs answering." The woman named Amy then looked over to the group of teenagers near the door, just realizing that they were there. "So, who are they?" "They happen to be my children and their friends." "Oh!" Amy said surprised, "I thought you said your children didn't have any magical power." "Until a few months ago, they didn't. There wasn't even a trace of any magic what so ever. I tried everything. Even a forced activation but nothing did it. It must have been really deep in there, beyond any detection. Amy then walked over and said, "Hi YA, My name is Amy." They all introduced themselves. When Nanoha and Lance introduced themselves however, Amy gave a leap of surprise. " You wouldn't happen to be _the_ Lance and Nanoha who stopped the Dimensional disruption caused by the failed Energy wave experiment on Maral, would you." Lee looked over at them. Then Nanoha said, "Yes, that would be us but it isn't as big a deal as everyone makes it to be." "Not a big deal, NOT A BIG DEAL_!!!_ You saved 15 different worlds from complete annihilation AT THE SAME TIME. You were given the Blue Rose Dimensional Rank Medal of Honor. That's the highest award in existence. You saved over 100 billion people from being disintegrated and messing up all of Dimensional space. And on top of that, Nanoha is a SS ranked mage and Lance is a Special Elite Level protector. I would call that a big deal." Lee's Dad looked over at the two supposed heroes. "I would have never guessed that was you two. I thought they would have been older." "On the contrary, we were nine at the time.

Lee intervened again, "Would someone mind explaining exactly what are you talking about. I would _love_ to know. We kind of feel out of the Loop." Amy was the one to answer, " I'll give you the summary," and she signaled to a person at a station near them. He brought up a screen in mid air right behind Amy. It started playing a video. It showed a battle with Nanoha and Lance facing a giant Blue Mass of Magical energy. According to the monitor, the Blobs power level was that of a SS+ ranked mage. If I am not mistaken, she is currently a SS mage now too. While it was running, Amy started telling the story and at the same time, Lance and Nanoha started to blush really hard. "It starts off with an experimentation Lab on Maral, Lance and Nanoha's home world. The lab was conducting research on how to improve pressurizing magic for cartage users. At the same time, they were trying to invent a machine with the ability to produce Magical energy on its own without any sort of power source or supply. It was meant to benefit society but one day, a group of terrorists invaded the factory to steal the data. They accidentally shot the magic pressure unit while fighting with the guards. This set off a massive explosion setting off the **M****agic****E****nergy****G****enrator ****unit.** It went haywire and produced negative M.E. which formed the blue monster. The monster was bent on nothing but total destruction. It went on a rampage. It finally got outside the Laboratory and started to charge it's final blast." This then appeared on the monitor. The monitor read the attack at a 20 billion-power level. It was off the computers charts. That was the equivalent of about 200 S+ ranked mages. "This attack was huge and powerful. If it had launched, the resulting explosion would have caused a Dimensional Shift of monstrous proportions. Then Nanoha and Lance appeared. They tried fighting it to no avail. Then it prepared to fire its final attack. In last minute desperation, Nanoha charged up her **STARLIGHT BREAKER** to its max level. Then Lance added some power to it too. He then set up a spell that was thought to have been lost for centuries, the **Magnifier**, a support spell to enhance a magical attack sent though the magic circle it spawned in front of the user. In the final face off, it was Nanoha and Lance's Super Powered **STARLIGHT BREAKER** versus the Monsters Final Blast. It was an amazing battle." On the monitor, it showed the two attacks colliding into each other. It was an amazing sight to behold. The two enormous attacks collided in mid air and didn't stop; each one trying to push the other back. In the end, Nanoha and Lance's attack beat the monster's attack and destroyed it. "Obviously, the projects were cancelled for safety reasons and Nanoha and Lance were given the Blue Rose Dimensional Rank Medal of Honor by the heads of all the worlds who were saved and the head of the United Planets council along with the head of the Time-Space Administration Bureau."

Lee, Sarah, Sora, Sakura and Chrono all looked over at Lance and Nanoha, who were now blushing so hard, their faces had turned completely red. "And why is that you never told us this thrilling little story," said Sora. "Well, we didn't want to brag and look like heroes. I'm just Nanoha and Lance is just Lance and that is how we wanted you to view us." Sarah said, "I guess I can understand that but still, WOW!" Chrono then said to Lance, "So why have you never helped us out with that Magnifying thing. That could've helped us out a lot you know." Lance then said, "Because it's a double edged sword. For all of its great benefits, it takes a hefty price. By the amount of times it multiplies the spell, years are taken off both the user of the spell and the user of the attack that is sent through it. That time, it took off 10 years of our life. Now our known lifespan is only 60 years. And the problem with this is that it gets more powerful with each use. It was measured to double in strength and thus it was measured at 3 more uses. I used it once already so now I'm down to two. Next time, it will take twenty years of my life and the third time, I would die on the spot."

Everyone looked at Lance and Nanoha with mixed looks; some of admiration, some of sadness, some of them being insane and others of pity. Chrono then said, "um, sorry for asking. I didn't know." "It's okay, we knew about the side effects before we used it 5 years ago." Then Amy, done with her story went over to Sakura and Chrono. "So who are these kids then? They're obviously from Earth. "Ah yes, Amy," John said, "These two are Sakura and Chrono, friends of my children. They happened to come across their magical powers in a similar way to my children, except that they needed a little help from Lance to get them started." "Oh, real Earth mages. I'll have to tell General Grayson about that. He will be thrilled." Sakura and Chrono were looking confused. Amy went on to explain, "General Grayson is originally 100% from Earth Origins. He is also the only Earthling in history to become a T.S.A.B. General. He asked if we found any promising candidates to tell him." Sakura and Chrono started to blush from their seemingly large significance.

Then Amy went over to Lee, Sarah and Sora. "And these ones have to be your kids. Let me see, you must be Sarah, he has told me so much about you," she said to Sarah, who blushed a little. "Next, you must be his oldest, Sora," she said to Sora who replied, "I would be ashamed of myself otherwise." Lastly, she got to Lee who was at the end of the row. "And this means that you must be Lee," she said in a happy voice. "Hi," Lee said. "So are you going to do a power reading today." Amy asked John. "Sure, why not. Can you have it set up?" "Already ready," she said, leaving the room as she did. "Okay, lets go to the my room, you guys must be bursting with questions." They left the room and followed John through the ship, going farther and farther up until they came to a door with a plaque saying, "Jonathan Cross. Captain."

John opened the door and they all went in. They all went in and received a big shock. It was huge. It looked more like the inside of a house. There was a kitchen, 3 bathrooms, dining room, study, and a total of 6 bedrooms. There was also a viewing room, which you could see out of the ship, and a mini control room. He gestured for them to go to the large living room and sit down on the couches. They did so and then, Lee blurted out, "What is all of this? How come you never told Mom or us any of this? Why didn't you tell us you were a mage? Why–" John interrupted him. The others were about to do what Lee just did but had decided to wait but them too were bursting with questions. "Okay, Okay. I'll answer the questions Lee." "Okay," said Lee, "Lets start of with you telling us who exactly are you." "Okay, guess you have a right to know that. I am a mage originally from the world where the T.S.A.B headquarters is located and is the center for all things magic, the world of Machida. I am a mage brought up on earth where the bigger portion of our family is located however. If you trace our ancestors back, you will find that one was said to appear out of thin air sometime during the feudal era of history. He was a mage sent here to observe the few who had discovered magic and observe and teach. But he fell in love with a women and decided to permanently move to earth, thus starting a family line of Cross's that descended through the ages to present day. My father however, had moved back to Machida before I was born. He ended up marrying a woman there and had me but then moved back to earth. There, I met your mother. It was love at first sight and we got married. Then we started a family and that is where you come into the picture. Right before I decided to marry your mother, I was already a T.S.A.B officer. To be honest, half the time I say I'm off on a bodyguard mission, I was actually on a T.S.A.B mission. Those were the times that I said that I couldn't contact you. Eventually, I climbed the ranks and became a Commander rank with captains' rights. So right now, I am Captain Commander Jonathan Cross, heading the inter-dimensional warship, the Asura."

Everyone except Lance and Nanoha were in complete awe and amazement and surprise. Lee, Sora, and Sarah's view of their dad had just changed entirely in the space of about ten minutes. Nanoha and Lee on the other hand looked like they had just hit themselves in the head. "How could we have not known? You would think we would be able to tell if someone was a Commander. That is the 2nd highest rank a mage outside the Special Forces division could have. There are only an elite few who are chosen." "It's okay you two," said John, "I purposely made it so that no one could know. You think you would be able to tell if a Commander didn't want you to know? Of course not."

"Okay now to answer the all important of where the hells are we. This is a relatively simple one to answer. We are on my ship, the Asura." Lee interjected, "and _where_ is this ship." "That is a bit harder to explain. The best way to put it would be the space in-between dimensions, the Dimension Shade. The ship is always here while on patrol. Now as for your final question, that is the hard one to answer. The best reason I can come up with is because if you didn't need to get involved, I didn't want you to know and worry about me. A person who worries but knows they can do something can still keep a level head. It is the people that worry and can't do something that go off the deep end or do something really stupid. So my best answer was to protect you." Then Sarah entered the conversation, "Then why didn't you tell us the second you knew we had discovered our magic." "Ah, that I confess was my doing alone. I wanted to see if you could figure it out. I kind of thought it a bit fun but I may have been wrong. I probably should have told you but it was kind of fun watching you and your friends trying to solve the little mystery."

"So now what?" said Lee? "Now, we go to the training room to test you all out, except for Nanoha and Lance who already had this test." So they followed him out of the room and around the ship. It took them ten minutes to get to the training room. All that was there was a big white room. Next to it, there was a control room with a bunch of different screens and tools. "Okay, we'll let the girls go first, lets start off with Sarah. Everyone but Sarah left the room to go and observe from the control room. There were already two people in there. They introduced themselves, "Hello Captain, Roger Marston and Fredrick Korneal reporting." "Now, didn't I tell you that I despise all formality? I really don't know way such a thing was even invented." "Right Captain John."

They started. The room turned dark and everything turned on. Through a microphone, John told Sarah, " Okay, when we give the signal, summon as much power as possible." Then he turned to Fred, "Turn on the simulation." He touched some keys and then the training room seemed to vanish and replaced by a clearing in some woods. "Sarah," said John into the Microphone, "Don't be alarmed, it is just a projection made by the room but none the less, everything will seem realistic to you. Now try and gather as much power as possible. We need to know your max." "Okay dad," she replied. She activated her barrier jacket and transformed. Then, a white magic circle appeared under her. She started to focus as hard as she could on gathering her power. "Don't force it," said her dad, "try to feel it out." She tried. The magic circle gradually got larger. Sarah was starting to power. Then suddenly, she flared up. She started to glow white with power. The air was getting thick with her magic and the area under her was starting to crack. Bits of rock were flying up and disintegrating and the magic circle got a hell of a lot bigger. "Okay, I think your almost there," said John. "I think I can go more," Sarah replied. She started to focus on her resolve to protect. She focused as hard as she could at this thought. The air around her got heavy. It seemed like the gravity itself was being increased. The ground was tearing itself up now and violent winds started to blow. Both she and her magic circle were now shining with a blinding white brightness. "Okay, your at your max, you can stop now." She nodded and then everything died down. Her magic circle disappeared and then the glow vanished. All of a sudden, Sarah stumbled and fell to the floor. Lee and his dad went in and then carried her out, laying her on the sofa in the control room. "That was excellent Sarah, good job." Then he turned to the men at the computers. "Can I get a reading Roger?" He looked at the screen. "Maximum peak at– _holy cow!_ – The max is 142 million. That's a AAA ranking there. I never thought even your child would be that strong; and to think that she is only 11 years old. "Am I good enough Dad?" asked Sarah. "Are you kidding me, only my elite division of 10 soldiers has that type of level and your still stronger than half of them and they've all been training since they were kids to get that. I'd say you're plenty strong."

"Okay, the auto repair function is done so everything is as good as new. Were ready to go again at any time." "Good," said John, "Next, we'll have the next young lady give it a whirl. If that's alright with you Sakura?" "I'm good. Tell me when your ready." She walked into the training room and the projector activated, making it seem like she was outside again. "Okay Sakura, whenever you're ready." Sakura transformed. Then her magic circle appeared. She started to concentrate as hard as she could. The circle was getting slightly bigger and bigger, continuously growing. "Okay Sakura, your doing good, just keep going." She was focusing as hard as she could. Her power then stopped growing. It was at only 10 million. "Is everything alright," said Lance through the microphone. Then Lance said, "Remember your training and what I told you. Remember the type of mage you are and where their power comes from. That is the key." "What are you saying Lance, do you think she can still go more," said John. "A hell of a lot more to be precise. This is just the tip of the ice burgh." Sakura tried to think back. She remembered that Lance told her that she was a sniper and support type. Her power came from shoving power into as small a space as possible to maximize its power and accuracy. Then she realized exactly what she needed to do. She started to focus only on one thing. The power around her body. Her magic circle shrunk so it was just large enough to surround her. Then she started to glow red. Her magic circle started to glow bright red. Then she broke a wall. Her circle grew to a giant size almost instantaneously, she was glowing very bright, almost blindingly so. The ground was tearing itself up again. The room's projector was going insane. Then it shorted out. Bits of debris were floating up and imploding. The room shook a bit too as cracks and eventually a crater started to appear under her. "Okay Sakura, that as much as you can take, power down." She did and all of a sudden, everything stopped. The glowing died down and her circle vanished. Then she fell unconscious. They carried her into the control room and set her on the couch. Lee's dad put some of his magic into her staff to replenish her lost supply. She woke up immediately. "So, how did I do." She was looking for an answer. Lee said, "What is her reading?" Rodger looked at the screen and said, "Another young female prodigy here. Her power level is–," he paused for a second and said, "My god, it is reading her level at 140 million. That's another AAA rank mage level. _What_ are these kids?" "Nice job Sakura, nice job." Every one was congratulating her.

"Okay, we don't have all day, I have some stuff to take care of. Okay, why don't we have Chrono go next?" Chrono went into the training room. Then transformed and got ready. The projector went on again. Chrono started to gather his power. Before he had entered the room, Lance had told him his more efficient way of maximizing his power. He then remembered what Lance had taught him during his training. He was the exact opposite of the support- sniper type mage Sarah was. He was the Close combat- Striker type mage. These mages, usually the first in any platoon to initiate combat, were the more powerful of the two. These mages always went full out. Unlike snipers which gained there power from super focusing their attacks into individual blasts, close combat was a type where you had to output a much magic as possible to gain maximum performance. This type of magic required no control. A close type mage always summoned as much power as possible without hesitation so theirs would spread into a much wider area. Not focused like Sakura's. He remembered how to do it. He took his stance. Then his magic circle appeared. His grew quickly in size as he gathered up power. Instead of focusing like a sniper, he relied on his instinct to release his power. This was because Close mages were always in high-speed situations and usually never had time to think or focus. He flared up now. He started to glow blue and his glowing aura started to grow far past his body until it filled the room. His circle got much bigger. He was feeling it and going with that feeling. He continued to go up. The ground was no longer tearing itself up, it was violently ripping itself to pieces. Now, larger than pebble bits of anything were going up as if gravity itself had disappeared for a minute, but Chrono kept going. Then, the opposite happened; gravity then seemed to intensify and everything seemed to come crashing down. The floor seemed to go down a little and the room was shaking more than a little now. "Chrono, stop. You're maxed out." He stopped. Everything stopped including the gravity. His barrier jacket disappeared but unlike the girls, he didn't faint or stumble. He walked quietly back into the control room and flopped onto the couch as if he had just come home from an extremely tiring day of non-stop sports games. "And the reading is?" Chrono looked expectantly at Rodger who hastily turned around and examined the data. "The third time and it still blows my socks off. "Your reading is." He stopped again, and then he went over the data again to make sure there was no mistake. "I don't believe it, this has to be a mistake. It says that his level is at 145 million. That is a AAA+ ranking. That can't be possible for a kid." "Rodger, I felt it, that data's the truth." Chrono said, "You know it." Then he relaxed on the couch, apparently exhausted.

"Next we'll have my oldest go up." John looked at Sora. He entered the room and suited up. He transformed and prepared himself. He was going over what he remembered Lance teaching him during training. He was an all rounder type with emphasis on close combat, just like his siblings. His power was in the way he focused it and how much desire he had for that focus and the resolve to bring it out. He focused as hard as he could on these things. His power flared up from the start. The projector went haywire and the lights started to flicker. He was glowing a bright orange and his giant magic circle under him was glowing too. He focused on that which he most wanted, that was the protection of all that he cared for. He flared up much more. The gravity of the room intensified to the point that the glass window looking into the room so that those in the control room could see was cracking inwards. Lee and his dad instinctively put a shield around the entire room at the same time. The room was going down again. The lights shattered and went off. The room however was still completely lit a deep orange due to the light emitting from the aura that Sora had produced. He was still going up. The ground under him started to crack and eventually, there was a medium sized crater under him. "And STOP." His father yelled into the microphone. Sora stopped and all at once, everything died down. His barrier jacket disappeared on its own and he fell to his knees. He was wiped from the exercise. He walked back into the control room, supported by Lee and John and settled on the couch. "So what is it." Roger looked at his screen and said, "Taking into account that your much older that the rest and you're the captains son, this one is a little more believable but still, THIS READING IS INSANE!!! It reads your level at 151 million. That's just enough to be an S class mage." Sora, relived to be told that he was the strongest one as of yet, relaxed and settled into the couch. Fred then said, "The extensive damage will take about 15 minute to repair so please be patient." "Okay," said John, "That's perfectly understandable."

They waited for a bit as a repair crew entered the training room and started to fix the place up. It took them only 15 minutes to fix the extensive damage, obviously due to magic and then it was Lee's turn. He was anxious to give it a good whirl, wanting to know how he would compare with the others. He entered the training room and activated his barrier jacket. He prepared to start. The projector wasn't going to be used this time as it was completely destroyed, even beyond magical repair so he would have to settle for the room as-is. He began. He began to focus as hard as he could. Lee focused as hard as he could. His magic circle kept on getting bigger. The floor started to tear away in chunks, rising into the air and exploding. Any debris about to hit Lee disintegrated in an instant. His power was going up at a steady pace. They were tracking the rate in the control room. "50 mil, 55 mil, 60 mil, 65 mil, 75 mil." It just kept going up. The rate kept increasing too. "85 mil, 97 mil, 110 mil, 130 mil." The rooms started to tear t itself violently. Lee's power started to form a single cyclone around him filled with his magic. The room was shaking. "140 mil, 143 mil, 147 mil 150 mil." "Holy COW. He broke the S rank limit and it's still going up. It's at 152, 156, 157, 158, 159, 160 mil. Okay, he looks like he is maxed out." John took the microphone and said to Lee, "Lee you're at the peak. You can stop now." "No, I'm not, I can go more," yelled Lee. "_MORE!_" said Roger, "How could he go MORE. He is nearing 200 as high and he can still go MORE!" Everyone looked stunned at this comment. Lee was now focusing as hard as he could.

It was only for a moment, but for Lee, it seemed like an eternity. A thought went through his head. "_Why do I fight? What am I fighting for?_" He tried to think why. "_Was it because Nanoha asked me too?_" That wasn't it because he volunteered to help. "_Was it to prove something?_" It was obviously not because he didn't have anything to prove. Then Haruno said something to him telepathically. "I AM HERE TO HELP YOU. FOR YOUR DESIRE I EXIST." What was his desire? Then images of his past battles appeared in his head. All the time, images of the ones who he had saved appeared in and out of his head. It came to him. He fought TO SAVE. He fought to save as many people as he could.

Suddenly, Lee flared up. His power skyrocketed. "Sir, this is insane. The level is 165, 170, 178, 190 ahhh!" The computer exploded. "It's beyond the scanners recognition sir it can't keep up. The entire ship started to shake violently as Lee's power exploded out of him all through the ship. Computers everywhere were frying on the spot. The lights were flickering on and off. Then, the lights exploded. Screens started to crack. Then, A violent golden twister formed around Lee, tearing up the ceiling and shooting out of the ship. Far away, at T.S.B.A headquarters, a low ranked mage came from the main radar room and rushed into the Generals office. "General Grayson, urgent report. Captain Commander Jonathan Cross's ship, the Asura has a giant power reading inside it. It has breached 250 million. That's a SSS+ rating. It is as high as yours and _that person's_ and still going up." The general turned around with interest and said, "Prepare my ship for departure, were heading out. I want to be leaving in fifteen minutes." "SIR yes SIR." The mage ran out of the room. Back at the ship, Lee had finally reached his max, he felt like if he went any farther, his body would explode. He then stopped everything, and everything died down. His barrier jacket released on it's own and Lee fainted on the spot in the torn up training room. Everyone on the ship had abandoned his or her posts to come and see what was happening.

"Captain, WHAT IN HELL HAPPENED. Are we under attack?" John answered Amy's question, "No, No, nothing as dangerous as that. We were just measuring power Levels." Another person stepped forward and said, "MEASURING POWER LEVELS, it looks more like an all out battle happened. How does a power reading exercise do _this_?" John replied, "It _happened_ when my son's outrageous power exceeded 200 million." The entire crew looked white in the face. They were all thinking "A kid with a 200 million power level? Is that even possible?" "Alright, enough of this. Get to your stations and start making repairs on the double!" Everyone dispersed at the order the captain had just given them all. Lee looked a little guilty at the damage he had just caused. At this, his father said, "It's not your fault. NO one could have predicted this. This is what you would call an unavoidable accident. What surprises me more was that you are able to control and suppress all that power. Most of the people who have huge powers like yours need some type of limiter to keep it in check. Even I have Raging fury suppress my power for me. But to think that you do it on your own is amazing in and of it self.

Just then, a crewmember came rushing in to deliver a message to John. "Captain, General Grayson is here in his personal warship, BARANGER. He is requesting permission to come aboard and have you tell him what the hell has happened." "Okay, I'll give him a reply." He took out Raging Fury and said to it, "Can you make a connection to the BARANGER's main line. "Please wait a moment," said Raging Fury. A large screen appeared in front of John. They all got out of the way as to not interrupt. Suddenly, a picture appeared on the screen. "Hello, this is General Grayson. Who is this I am addressing." "Captain Commander Jonathan Cross and can I say it's a pleasure to see you again. "Ah, John, is that really you, it's been ages. I thought you were still on vacation to visit your family." "Things happen, you know how it is." "I can see that John. Your ship is a mess. Could I come aboard so you can explain to me what exactly happened here?" "Normally I would be delighted to have you come aboard my ship but as you can see, we are kind of in terrible shape. Is it possible to come aboard your ship instead?" "You make a good point, very well. I shall have the transport room ready for your arrival." "Thanks and may I bring a few guests, they are directly related to the matter and I have a feeling you are going to want to talk with some of them." "Good idea, I'll have some refreshments prepared. I look forward to seeing you again." "See you in a bit," said John and he closed the line, putting Raging fury back around his neck. "Lee, Sarah, Sora, Chrono, Sakura, Nanoha and Lance, you will all be joining me on a little visit to see General Grayson. Roger and Fredrick, You will be joining us as well as witnesses to what has taken place here. Lee and the rest didn't know what to say. They didn't even know if they were even dressed up good enough to see this high-ranking officer. Instinctively, John said, " It's okay, he hates formality almost as much as I do. You will find that a lot of higher ranking officers do."


	19. General Grayson–The Crazziest Test Ever

The Haruno Chronicles

Ch. 19 One of the longer chapters. But this is where we get Lee's results and aren't they a shocker. And he may even discover something else. And What do you know, we also learn about Lee's next door neighbors. New magic is abundant in this chapter.

Disclaimer: Everything, material, characters, locations ect… are property of the respective people.

Chapter 19 – General Grayson – The Craziest Test Ever!

About 30 minutes later, they were all in the transportation room, which was given top priority to be fixed. Apparently, it was both rude and difficult to teleport directly onto another ship. So they started up the transporter and a crewmember pressed the go button. Suddenly, they were teleported to a similar looking room where a person was waiting for them. "Assistant captain in command of the 12th platoon under General Grayson, Henry Matthew's reporting. Please follow me." He led them around the ship until he came to a door at the end of a hallway. He opened it and inside, there was a square table in the middle with a single 5-person couch on each side. The opposite wall was a big window and there were snacks on the table along with tea.

"My, you've brought some young ones with you said an elderly but fit looking man." "We'll these are the people that are related to the incident and three of them are my children. The other two are friends of my children and the last two are also friends of my children but I think you've already met one of them and I know you know the second one." "Suddenly, He looked at Nanoha and said, "Now this is a pleasant surprise, what is my niece doing here?" Nanoha ran over and hugged General Grayson, "How have you been Uncle Will." "Great, It's so good to see you again." Lee then said, "This is a surprise, you never told us he was your uncle." Nanoha replied, "Sorry, I forgot to tell you." "Okay, why don't you all sit down, I have tea and refreshments already prepared for you so help yourselves." They all sat down on the couches and then the general said, "Let me formally introduce myself to those of you who do not know me. I am William Grayson, Senior General of the 4th Division of the Time-Space Administration Bureau. It's a pleasure to meet you." They all introduced themselves and then Grayson said, " If I were to guess, I would say you three," pointing at Lee, Sarah and Sora, "are John's children, am I right." Sarah said, "Is the relation that obvious." "To be frank, yes. You all look just like him." Then Lee said, "I have a question, how are you related to Nanoha if you are originally from Earth." "Good question. I married her father's sister or Nanoha's aunt Elizabeth and became her uncle." "Makes sense," said Lee.

"Now before we get started," said John, " I think you should talk with Chrono and Sakura. Both are skilled mages and they are both completely 100% from Earth like you." "Are they now. Now that is something." He turned to them, "And which country are you from?" Chrono answered, "We're both from Tokyo, Japan." "Ah, yes, Japan. I have visited there many times myself. I have some family in Japan. I am originally from England. I haven't been to Earth in a long time. I wonder how my family is?" John then interrupted, "Your family is good." Lee then said, "You know the General's family?" "You do to, they have a different last name but they are our next door neighbor's, the Johnson's. Lee looked surprised with this unexpected twist of faith. "I would have never guessed. Thy don't seem to be not normal." "That is because only the two oldest, the ones yours and Sora's age have developed their power's. The two youngest still haven't shone signs of magic. The father is brother to General Grayson."

"Okay, I think were done with introductions. Now it's time to discus the reason why I called you here. So John, what exactly happened that put you ship in this state. We got a reading from your ship all the way back at head quarters for a power level of 250 million. Was there a battle here or something?" John answered, "No, no, nothing nearly as serious as that. You see, both my children and the two from earth only discovered their powers in the last few months. So I thought to give them a power level check. There were some really good results. All of them are at least AAA rank mages." "Now that is something but that doesn't explain what happened here." "We'll actually it does. When it was Lee's, my middle child's turn to go, none of us were prepared for it. It is still hard to fathom that a kid, even my own son, could have a power level of 250 million at his age. I still have a hard time believing it." "So you say this teenager was that giant power level. I have a hard time believing that one. I can see some prodigies possibly having 120 million, 150 at the most but **250 MILLION** is a little to extreme for me to believe." "We'll that is why," he pointed at Roger and Fred who were right next to him, "I brought them." Both explained the series of events to that happened and how Lee's power seemingly broke the scanner so they didn't have an accurate reading on the Power Level. Finally, General Grayson said,

"Okay, I don't think any of you are lying but this is the type of thing I can't believe without seeing it for myself. As such, I want to see it actually done. But not today, I am not prepared for it. How about tomorrow at 10 A.M. sharp, I pick you up in my ship and we head for Fretica. It is a desolate planet that, even though it can sustain life, is deserted of any organisms. It used to be a planet full of life until a Dimensional Shirt destroyed all of the life there. Dimensional Shifts are mysterious things. You never know what they're going to do. Due to its lack of life, It has been turned into a training ground for the Time-Space Administration Bureau. With no one around, there aren't any civilians to accidentally get hurt so it makes it a great training spot." "Okay, 10 A.M. we'll be waiting in the park near my house for pickup. I trust you know were that is." "Obviously. In fact, I think I am going to visit my family tonight. As long as it's under the jurisdiction that I am "Looking after" a possibly great prospect, I can even put it into my work hours and not take away from my vacation time." "Slick move for a General," said John. "Even we Generals are human and like to take a break every now and then." "John, don't worry about your ship, I will file it as an accident for you so no one comes prying and its repairs are made a priority." "That would be nice of you and a lot less hassle for me. I hate paperwork. Luckily for you, a generals words are as good s paperwork to anyone within earshot." "Just one of the perks."

It was almost 5 pm when Grayson's ship teleported them into a clearing in the middle of the woods near the park. William Grayson had already called his brother saying that he could come visit tonight. They all walked towards Lee's house. Chrono and Sarah were invited to dinner at Lee's house so they went with them. When they got to the street where Lee's house was on, they saw their neighbor's out on the street waiting for them. They were all surprised to see their relative, which they only saw about once every year and a half come walking down the street after calling only a half an hour before hand to say he was coming to visit. Before they had left the ship, their dad had explained to them exactly the situation was right now. The person that the general's brother, Mr. Johnson, had married was also a mage so their children and the father all knew about magic and stuff like that. Also, John revealed one more but of "small and unimportant" information. When Lee heard it, he said, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN MOM KNOWS ABOUT YOU BEING A MAGE. DIDN'T YOU SAY EARLIER THAT YOU DIDN'T TELL US OR MOM ABOUT IT!" "No Lee, I didn't. You asked why I never told you and your Mom about being a mage. I told you a specific reason for not telling you but I never gave a reason why I didn't tell her, or even say I didn't tell her in the first place. You only assumed that I didn't tell her because I didn't tell you. DO you think you could marry someone and not tell them that type of information; especially if it kept you away for long periods of time. That type of secret would destroy the relationship."

When they arrived, the Johnson's decided in celebration of their Relative's sudden visit, they were going to have a small party and invited (at Grayson's suggestion) the Cross's and they're friends over for dinner. They accepted graciously and said they would be over shortly. They had one thing they needed to take care of first. Though their mom knew about their dad being a mage, he never told her about THEM being mages and they thought now would be just as good a time as any to do so. As such, when they entered the house to find there mom doing some bill's, John asked her to go into their room so he could tell her something important. They went into their room for ten minutes and then came out. Then Mary said, "I am so PROUD of you three. But why didn't you tell me about this sooner. Did you think that you couldn't trust your own mother?" Sora said, "Definitely not, but at the time, we didn't know anyone outside our little group that even knew magic. So naturally we thought it as weird and inhuman and we didn't want to shock you that much. We just didn't think you could comprehend it, that's all." Then Mary said, "You truly are your father's son. He said the exact same thing when he told me about his."

When all was sought out in the family, Lee asked Lance, I thought you said there wasn't a lot of mages on Earth?" "We'll I said there wasn't a lot of mages from earth. Actually, There are mages assigned to every country on any known planet to have magic beings to keep tabs on them. You will find that there are probably a few hundred mages on Earth at anyone time, or any planet for that matter. They headed next door for dinner. There Mr. Gary and Mrs. Lillian Johnson were setting up, along with Garret (the one Sora's age), Matt (the one Lee's age), Rachel (Sora's age) and the 9 year old Louise. When they saw Lee and the rest come in, their parents said they should go out back and play. When they went out back, Matt asked Lee how he'd been. Lee hadn't been over in a while due to all the battles he had to fight and other things related to that. He replied saying that he had been good but he had also been very busy as well. Then he asked, "So, what type of mage are you?" Matt seemed to chock on his own spit for a second and then said, "What do you mean?" as if he didn't know anything. It then occurred to Lee that he didn't know that he was a mage. He held up his pointer for a second and shot a small ball of magic into the air, then controlled it to hit a soccer ball into a cone.

Matt said with a look of surprise on his face, "Since when have you been a Mage." "Not that long, just a few months." "I would have never guessed." He then looked at everyone else Lee had brought over. "This may seem silly as earth mages are rare but are any of them mages also." Lee answered, "Yes, they're all mages to be precise and damn good ones at that." Matt looked surprised. "But I thought it was rare for Earth people to be able to use magic?" It is, but our dad is originally from Machida so we all inherited our powers. Lance and Nanoha are originally from Maral that is already a planet of mages so they obviously got magic. The only thing is that Sakura and Chrono ARE real 100% earth Mages. But that is less surprising then if we all were." "You got that right. Now to answer your question, we aren't sure yet, you see my magic is still in it's infancy. I can only do a few things as of yet. My brother is a fully developed mage specializing in mid-long range combat. You won't believe this but he is a AA+ rank mage, pretty impressive huh?" "Apparently it's supposed to be but not with the mages I know." Matt looked confused so Lee went on, "Apparently, my friends and I are all supposed to be prodigies or something like that. Between my friends and I, the lowest rank is a AAA" "Your obviously not serious, that's impossible." "Dead serious, we were tested today. Sakura ended up being a AAA. Sarah was a AAA+ class. Chrono ended up being AAA+, Sora ended up being an S class, Nanoha, who was tested before this is a SS class mage and all we know about my level is that it is higher than 200 million. The scanner broke after that and I kind of accidently destroyed my Dad's warship, the Asura. Luckily, your Uncle is going to take care of it for him so no harm done. Actually, I guess it's because of my power level that your uncle is even here. He needs to test me at a special base on a deserted planet tomorrow so he is staying here for the night." Matt looked shocked at the fact that all of the teenagers in his back yard and Lee's little sister were all stronger than his supposedly super elite brother.

At that point, Garret started laughing across the yard and came over to where Lee and Matt were sitting. "I'm guessing he has told you about all of his friends here being mages already but get this, Sora says that they are all AAA or higher. Now isn't that the funniest thing you ever heard. How could those little girls over there be stronger than me? If Sora was, I could understand but an 11-year-old girl." "Yeah, I know, Lee just said the same thing." "Okay, okay, that joke is now getting old so you can tell me your real power level now?" "I already have, those levels weren't a joke, go ask you uncle." With his face a little pale, he went and asked to ask his uncle. He came back a minute later, his face now completely devoid of color. "So what did he say Garret?" asked Matt. Garret replied, "AA rank or SS rank doesn't really matter. It's how you use it that really makes you strong and I who have been training for years definitely have so much more experience that I am still at least twice as strong as–," Sora had disappeared and reappeared using ZAE SHUNPO with FLARE STORM half released into sword form right at Garret's neck. "What the hell type of magic was that." "None that was my skill alone. Now imagine if I actually used magic. Now who is stronger?" Garret then said, "Not magic my butt. No human could do that without magic. It's just not possible." Lee then interjected, "Not all power comes from magic. There is physical strength and then there is Ki if that fails." "Ki?" said Matt. Lee held up his hand and produced a small ball of Ki. "What the hell is that? That isn't like no magic I've ever felt. It's feels like it has a life of it's own." Sora said, "That there is Ki, another form of power. Unlike Magic however, any human can use it with enough training. It is physical competitiveness." Garret, knowing when he was outmatched admitted defeat. They then started talking about how their magic had started to influence their lives. Lee told them about how he encountered magic and what had happened on that occasion. Chrono and Sakura joined the discussion to tell everyone how they discovered magic. Apparently, Matt had discovered magic on purpose, unlike everyone else. He was so egger to try and be as strong as Garret that he tried everyday since his brother got his magic to try and discover his magic. He tried everything his mother had suggested. He worked hard everyday to obtain it. After a few years, just as his mother was about to lose hope, he suddenly flared up one day and his magic appeared. Since then, he had been able to do some spells that any typical mage child could do. He was as good as any regular mage for his age. Lee had a hard time comprehending this as all the mages he knew that were his age, including pure mages were at least AAA in strength. This distorted his views of strong and weak.

Soon, the younger girls were just sitting on the steps listening to the older kids talk. Then Rachel said to Sarah, "Don't you wish you could use magic. I know I do. I train every day to try and discover my magic. I did a little bit once so we know I'm not a lost cause, same with Louise. Apparently, it is commonplace for mage children to do bits of random magic sometimes. It just proves that they can do it." Louise then said, "I want to do magic too. It would be fun to fly." Then Sarah said, "Well, I can tell you that flying is actually not that hard to do, and it is very fun." The other two looked astonished, "YOU can do magic Sarah?" said Rachel. Louise then said, "I bet it's a bluff. Mommy says magic at our age is near impossible and if we do, it isn't enough to do anything with." Sarah then replied, "Just match me." She then stood up and started to float a few inches in the air. The other two looked impressed so she thought that she should show off a little more. Then Rachel said, "That's really cool but my older brother stills has a one-up on you. He has already materialized a custom device and it has two forms at that." Sarah then summoned her sword in a half release to make the two girls look on in awe and applaud. Then Sarah swung the sword about for a bit. Then she said, "And this is just a half release. If I go full release, I get a barrier jacket and my sword has two more forms. It is actually a staff that has the **HBD** of Holy Blade Driver. It's a cool short sword that enhances the users physical stats as well as having a special power to permanently cut anything. Once slashed by this sword, you will never heal, if you are evil. TO those not evil, it is just a regular sword, which would still hurt if it sliced you." The other two girls looked at Sarah with admiration.

Trying to see if they could best her at anything, Rachel said, "Well I give it to you that you beat us in the magic category, but what about fighting with no magic. I think I would beat you there. I may not look it but I am a 1st degree black belt in Japanese Seshwitawn. An ancient fighting style said to be the strongest at one point in history. My grandpa runs the dojo and I have been taking lessons from him since I was six." Sarah said, "Well, I have been studying Cross style swordsmanship from my dad for about two months but he said I advanced extraordinarily quickly for my age." She got up and then used SHUNPO to run right behind Rachel, tap her on the head, and go back to where she was all in the space of about 3 seconds. "What the?" Rachel said when she took a sticky off the back of her head. It said, "Sarah was here" and had a smiley face on it. "I thought you said no magic." Sakura replied, "Didn't use any. That right there was plain old down right 100% bonefide Cross family style swordsmanship. No magic used what so ever." Rachel looked shocked at the superhuman she thought was before her. She then decided that it was so unrealistic that it was a trick and decided to drop the entire subject.

Their parents called out for them to come in because it was dinnertime. They went in and ate the turkey dinner that had been prepared. Lee wondered how a turkey big enough for 20 people was made in the 1-hour time span warning that Mrs. Johnson had been given. Then Lee remembered that she was supposed to be a mage so he put it down to it being magic. They ate through the full course dinner. After dinner, they were all around the house and then Rachel said to her mother, "How come Sarah can use magic now and I can't?" Her mother looked confused, then turned to John and asked, "Can she really use magic, at such a young age?" General Grayson was the one to reply, "Why yes, she can and quite well in fact. She is beyond what you would call a prodigy, in fact, they all are. One might even go as far as to call them superhuman. They all have power levels that far exceed typical mages. The lowest one in the group is a AAA rank mage." Mrs. Johnson choked on her drink for a second. "T-T-T-Triple A rank mage. And that is the lowest. Now call me crazy, bit isn't that a bit absurd. How could those children or any child for that matter be a AAA ranked mage? I have a hard time believing it." Grayson then said, "I have a hard time believing it too. But if you want to hear something so crazy that it can't be true, then listen to this. There is a possibility that John's middle child, Lee, is a SSS+ rank mage. We wont know for sure until tomorrow. All we know is that his power is above 200. The scanner broke after that so we're going to bring him to Fretica. Their scanner is the best there is. It was able to get a reading on that monster that Nanoha back there defeated 5 years ago." Nanoha, who was in the corner started to blush out of sight, " and it was 2 million so we know we will get the data we need there. Actually that is how I was able to come and visit. I put it under surveillance of an interesting prospect so I don't even have to take it out of my vacation time." Mr. Johnson then talked with John for a while about random stuff that had been happening. Lance transformed into a ferret to amuse Louise. And the rest of them just talked for a bit

"So Nanoha," said Sarah, "Does this mean that your related to the Johnson's?" "Yes, though I never visited them here before. I didn't even know they lived in Japan. I only saw them while visiting with my Uncle at his place." They continued about their chatting and the other two girls joined and started asking questions about magic. Nanoha was famous as the "Genuine Prodigy" defending against certain doom at age 9.

After a while, they decided it was time to go home. Lance who was a ferret climbed onto Nanoha's shoulder and went with Nanoha and Sakura as they teleported home. Chrono did the same thing, teleporting to his house. Lee and Sarah were so tired that they too just teleported to there rooms to go straight to sleep.

They woke up at 8 the next morning, fully refreshed and ready to go. They ate breakfast and left for the park. They were surprised to find that Nanoha, Chrono, Lance (Human form) and Grayson were already there but also the entire Johnson family was present too. "We want to see the miracle prodigy for ourselves," said Matt. They waited for about a half an hour. Then it was ten. Grayson tried to contact his ship but got no response. Then he tried again. This time he got a response. "Hello, General Grayson is that you. Sorry but it looks like the testing will have to be postponed. While towing the Asura, the BARANGER went haywire from all the magic left by the last person to use the training room. We were able to get back to headquarters but we can't leave. The engines died as soon as we landed." The transmission broke off from a weak signal. "Now what," said Grayson? Lance then said to Sakura telepathically, "_Why don't you give it a shot._" Sakura remembered she was told by Lance one that she was a portal type mage as well. She had never actually tried to make a portal before though but decided to give it a shot. "Everyone stand back," she said. Then she transformed into her barrier Jacket. "Oh, pretty," said Louise and Rachel at the same time as Sakura reappeared in a pink dress with matching blazer. Her staff materialized next to her. "Okay Cerenity, lets do this. PORTAL OPEN," her staff grew large red wings on the side and a giant magic circle appeared under her, "Coordinates, 3242-5467-7564-8623-5437, FRETICA GATE number 1." A vertical red magic circle about ten feet tall and ten feet wide appeared in front of her. It was surrounded by a red aura. Then, the middle turned into something like a window. On the other side, she saw the doors to a large complex. "My god," said Grayson, "An earthling portal type, I would have never guessed." "This is my first time actually making one though." Grayson walked through first, followed by John and the rest followed. They reappeared on the other side, just where they saw from through the portal. After the last of them came through the portal, it disappeared. Sakura look a little exhausted. Lance said this was normal as portals took a lot of power.

Grayson went to the side of the door and signaled for them to open up. They opened the large door to enter the complex and they walked in. In was huge. There were rows and rows of buildings going in a circle. In the center, there was a large circle about 2.5 – 3 kilometers in diameter. "This", Grayson told them, "was the practice field used for training." This would also be the place where Lee would be tested for his power level. Grayson told them to follow him as he went to a fairly large building near the practice field. They followed him into the building, where he then said, "We're going to meet a friend of mine so please be patient." They all wondered who he was talking about. They then entered a large elevator that took them all to the top floor.

They entered a lounge looking room with a bunch of couches. There, a young looking person-looking like he was in his mid 20's. "Morning General," said the man sitting on the couch. "Good morning too you to, General Jackson Faraloon." Jackson motioned for them to sit and they took the invite, sitting on the couch. "Hello all," he said. "So are all these kids the wonder mages you told me about yesterday? Quite a lot of them." "Not all of them, just those seven," he pointed at Lee and the others, "The others are my nephews and nieces," he pointed at Garret and his siblings." "Seven. Well, that is still remarkable, seven teenagers of AAA or higher. So which one is the one who needs to still be tested. Something about his power overloading the on-board scanner of the Asura?" Grayson motioned for Lee to introduce himself. "Lee Cross, a pleasure to meet you." He shook the commanders hand, "The pleasures mine. I expect this is going to be fun. So you're Cross's middle child. It was a big surprise here when we heard that last name of yours. John had told everyone that he hadn't picked up a trace of magic in any of his children." He then turned to John, "Hey John, how have you been. Life treating you good." "All the usual, well except for my son accidently destroying my ship." "Well you know John, stuff happens, what are you going to do." "Truer words have never been said." Then Jackson said to them all, "Okay, we're burning daylight people, lets get a move on shall we." He walked to the other side and entered the elevator. The others followed him into the elevator.

They exited the building and walked to the training field entrance. "Okay all, If your name isn't Lee, into the ship," he pointed behind him where a small air carrier was waiting for them. He then told Lee to transform and he did. "Okay Lee, I want you to follow the airship from outside. We're going out to the center for the testing, that's where we get our best results." Everyone boarded the airship and it launched vertically up into the air. Lee followed outside the ship to the center of the training grounds. When the ship stopped in mid-air, Lee got a telepathic message from General Jackson, "Kay Lee, land here." Lee landed on the ground, and then he got another message, "Good, now we need to get set up, I'll tell you when to go. Just wait there for a few minutes." Le sat down while up at the ship, the technicians were preparing the scanner link to hook up to the real scanner back at the bases central command tower. Then they told Commander Jackson that they were good to go. "Kay, lets do this thing." "Lee, good to go."

Lee stood up and his magic circle appeared. He started to gather his energy. "Okay General, we have positive confirmation. All levels seem normal. Power output for mage Lee Cross is stable. Power reading currently at 10 million and increasing rapidly 20 mil, 30 mil, 40 mil." "Good, good," said Jackson. Back on the ground, Lee was focusing on nothing more than gathering as much power as he could. He was glowing gold now and his magic circle was at least 50 yards across. It was glowing brightly as well. "Commander, he has just broken the AAA rank level, 120 mil, 130 mil, 140 mil. My God, what is this kid, he's hit the S rank level and is still going up, 145 mil, 150 mil, 155 mil, 157 mil, 160 mil. It has peaked sir, Power level stopped increasing at 160 million." The commander was about to tell Lee to stop, kind of disappointed when John said, "Don't worry, just give him a second, he's no where near done. He just needs to reach that point."

On the ground, Lee was at a mental block. He was trying to remember what he had done exactly to break the limit and go full 100%. He remembered finding his reason to fight and he remembered. He focused as hard as he could on his resolution to SAVE. Suddenly, the ground below him started to crack and tear itself up. His circle doubled in size all at once. Winds started to swirl around Lee. The clouds gathered and started to swirl around Lee as well. The ground started to tear itself up. A crater formed under Lee, getting bigger and bigger as he dug deeper and deeper into his own power. A gold twister of his own power formed around him. Chunks of the ground started to rise up and explode. Anything that got close to Lee disintegrated.

"Sir, the scanner reads 200 mil and rising, 210, 215, 220, 230, he broke the SSS ranking. This is insane." Jackson looked on with amazement. John was smiling as Lee's friends looked on with awe. The Johnsons were all looking on with complete disbelief. Matt most of all was having a hard time of it. Here they were, two kids who lived next door to each other and while he could only do a bit of magic, here was Lee surpassing almost every mage in existence. Garret was looking on in awe. He thought his AA+ rank was impressive but compared to this; it looked like a child's level. Mrs. Johnson continued to look on in shock and amazement. The two Johnson girls were looking on in awe and amazement, easily labeling this as the coolest thing they have ever seen. Even general Grayson had to be utterly impressed with what he was seeing.

Lee was focusing harder and harder. He was thinking of nothing but his resolve. He cleared his mind of all thoughts except his desire to save. Then it happened, he exploded with power, a giant crater blasted into the ground under him. The entire complex was shaking now. People were running out of the buildings, they could feel the power pulsing from the training grounds. As a sort of motivator, Jackson sent a large visual of Lee to a large intangible screen he formed in the sky so everyone could see. They were all in awe as they saw Lee power up. Lee just kept going, higher and higher, as high as he could. The entire planet was shaking now, the sky had turned dark, and the airship his friends were in was shaking from massive turbulence caused by Lee's power-up. Then Lee hit the plateau, his power stopped growing, but this time, he felt it stabilize, he was maintaining it unlike before.

"Holy Crap, it finally stopped growing. Easily a SSS+ rank, his power Level now is at 315 million." Even Lee's friends jumped with shock at this. Lance looked at Lee, thinking hard. He was wondering what exactly Lee was. The Johnsons were totally insignificant now so they stood in the corner watching the event unfold. Nanoha was looking on in awe. Even Lee's dad, John, couldn't help but be surprised and impressed. His own Power ranking was only 320 million. He was also part of the SSS+ class of mages along with Grayson who was at 311 million. Lee fit right in with them in terms of power. Back at the scene, Lee realized he couldn't power down, the power was stable, he could control it but he couldn't lower it. Jackson then said telepathically, "Lee, You've hit the top, but I am guessing you can't shake it off now. That's okay; we want to measure your absolute peak reading. That can only be achieved during a power focusing attack. We need you to point your staff in a blank upwards direction and shoot your most powerful blast. This should alleviate the power, but be careful. A mages level and a mages attacks level are on completely different planes. They are several times stronger from the intense concentration required to control them. Try not to lose control." Lee prepared to fire. He changed HARUNO into shooting mode. Then he pointed it into the open sky ahead of him. Three rings, bigger than ever appeared in front of the staff. "VARIATION TWO," he started to focus all of the power he had built up. "Keep track of the attacks power. My guess is that it will hit 500 million. Change over to attack scanner." They did a few adjustments so it could measure the attacks power.

The sphere of magic in front of Lee's staff kept growing. It grew to massive proportions. It just gained more and more power. Lee started to feel the fatigue from maintaining such a huge power. He then realized it had hit a peak. "Haruno, you okay." "YES MASTER. LET US GO ALL OUT. SAY THE WORDS AS I TELL YOU." Lee then felt words come to his mind flowing from Haruno. "_I summon the light of destruction down upon my prisoners. Stars, gather and become the light which pierces everything. Tear through everything in a blaze of light_," three familiar pink rings appeared intertwined with Lee's golden ones and of the same size as well. Then, a large pink sphere appeared next to Lee's golden one. It was as big and seemed to be as powerful as the golden one. Nanoha's eye's widened as she realized what attack Lee was forming; it was _hers_. "_Powers of the light and the stars, now combine to create a brand new power, _**COMBINATION ATTACK, PURE LIGHT BREAKER AND STARLIGHT BREAKER, FUSE!"** The two giant attacks fused to create a super bright gold glowing sphere with a powerful pink aura. It was at least twice as big and even more powerful. "Jackson, what's the reading on that attack!" The crewmen looked at his screen and his eyes seemed to bulge out of his head in shock. "Sir, as it stands, the scanner has to be going on the fritz. It is giving a reading of 1.5 **BILLION **and rising. Now it's at **TWO BILLION** ah!" The scanner short circuited and the screen exploded. "Someone tell main tower to keep a lock on that thing with the main scanner." Everyone looked on with pure amazement as Lee prepared to launch. "**FINAL COMBINATION ATTACK, ****SHOOTING STAR, RAGNAROK **_**BREAKER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"**_ Lee fired the super attack and a giant ray blast of bright golden magical energy with a pink aura surrounding it, flickering like flames shot into the sky, parting the clouds as it passed. It was at least half a kilometer. The main scanner was going crazy now. Even from the edge of the training grounds, the wave of magic was clearly visible as it shot into space. The airship spun out of control through the air as the wave passed it. It filled the air with a strange kind of magic. It felt warm and inviting, almost like healing magic. Pulses of magic were erupting from Lee as he shot the attack. Everyone on the airship just kept looking on in utter amazement. Lee's attack exited the planets atmosphere, disrupting the magnetic field for a second and shot into the deep void of space. When it had traveled several light-years away, it blew up in a HUGE explosion 1000's of time the size of the attack. It was easily seeable, even though it was light-years away and it was the daytime. It was a sight to behold as it exploded in a big whirl of gold and pink, making it look like some type of godly fire. Everyone in the base looked on in total awe of the attacks explosion. At the same time, a super bright light flashed across the entire planet, blinding everyone for a moment.

Finally, it died down and then Haruno opened it's back up and released a huge amount of steam. There was so much steam that it created a cloud. The airship landed back at the base as it couldn't land in Lee's vicinity due to all the magic still left in the area from the attack. They tried to teleport out but there was too much interference. They decided to run out. It took them a few minutes to fly out there. Except for Garret, who joined them, the Johnsons stayed behind, unable to keep up with the top class mages. When they got there, the steam cloud had disappeared. They were all in shock; none of them could have guessed what they saw next. They saw a giant crater around 200 meters wide with lee at the center, standing with the support of Haruno. They all rushed out to see how he was, only to find that he had fainted on his feet. John picked him up and said, "You did a fine job Lee; you deserve a rest." And flew back to the main complex.

During the event, back at T.S.B.A Headquarters on Machida, people were running around like crazy. They were scrambling around, trying to solve the mystery of the insane power reading they had picked up in the vicinity of the FRETICA base. One mage ran to the General's office to make a report. "What's going on here? What was with that insane reading, is the scanner on the fritz?" "No General Harwloon maim, we have confirmed that it is not the scanner. We have pinpointed it to a T.S.B.A. training base located on the deserted planet, Fretica. The source is still unknown. The aftermath of the blast created a very small dimensional shift around the planet. It is confirmed that communication with the base will be out for about 2 hours and that actual transport to the base will not be possible for at least two days. We will alert you when we get a line through." The mage left and the General, as impatient as she was, decided to make a personal visit. She sat down and meditated. She was focusing on the space around Fretica's dimensional space; she was looking for a small breach in the dimensional shift to slip through. She found one on the direct opposite side from where the source had been located. She focused and managed to teleport herself there, leaving a note behind saying where she had gone. As she was a general, she was authorized to take this type of action. She reappeared somewhere in the middle of a mountain range. She took out her map and tried to find her location. She realized that she had teleported to the exact opposite side of the planet. She tried to teleport but found it impossible with all the interference around the base. "Oh well." She started to fly in the direction of the base.


	20. Aftermath, Consequeces MORE training

The Haruno Chronicles

Ch. 20 Interesting chapter, we get a bit of everything, probably why it is so long. Now we learn that you can disprove the saying, little packages = big surprise due to the sheer length of this chapter, or can you? Maybe you can. I guess you just have to read and find out.

Disclaimer: Everything, material, characters, locations ect… are property of the respective people.

Chapter 20 – Aftermath, consequences and what do ya know, _more training_

Lee woke up in a bed. He didn't know where he was or how he got there. He sat up in bed and realized that everyone was sitting around him. Lance, Sarah and General Grayson were by his bedside using a combined healing spell to try and restore him. When they saw him wake up, they stopped, apparently exhausted from all the magic they had to have poured into him. Everyone looked relieved. "What's going on? Where am I? How did I get here?" Everyone looked at Lee with a sort of mixed expression of awe, amazement, sadness and worry. His dad was the first one to answer.

"First of all, I am pretty sure you remember this but you shot that attack and fainted on your feet. That being your own fault, I was kind enough to carry your sorry behind here myself. This is the bases private hospital facility. It's state of the art, or was state of the art. Unfortunately, you destroyed mostly anything that ran on power on the entire planet. So unfortunately, we had to heal you up the old fashion way, with our own power." Lee said, "Sorry about that, I didn't know this would of happened. I would of found another way otherwise. So what else did I damage?" Everyone looked around with a "You tell him" type glance. Lee thought they weren't going to tell him when General Jackson stepped forward.

"Your all a bunch of worry-warts. Nothing good is going to come from hiding it from him." Jackson then turned to Lee, "First off, I would like to say your final attack was kick-ass to look at. There was something damn good in that attack. Unfortunately, it is also true that because it was done on this planet that has a dead core, there was no natural magical protection to prevent the dimensional shift that resulted from the final explosion of the attack. Don't worry too much," he saw Lee's face go into a very guilty expression, "It isn't anything big. I have done worse. You just knocked out communication for the first hour and a half and stopped anyone from leaving or entering the planet for the next day or so. None of the other Generals will admit this but it is sort of a hidden requirement to have made at least one really stupid mistake usually resulting in a dimensional shift. I did once while trying to impress my friends back on my home world. I went maxed like you and tried to drain it all at once. Like your attack, it caused a dimensional shift that completely isolated the planet for about ten days and kept anyone from going or coming for at least double that. But even that fails to register with the good generals," he pointed at Grayson behind him with his thumb, "complete screw up. Why his knocked out everything for almost two months and killed all electronic anything's on the planet. And you know why he did it, he–." General Grayson interrupted mid-sentence, "Okay, that's enough of that. That old incident is so old, I don't think I remember it at all." Then he gave a look to Jackson that clearly said, "You talk, you die." Jackson knew the general to be a seriously literal person who never once told a joke. He changed the subject quickly.

"Okay Lee, the point is to not dwell over this. It isn't a big deal. Well it is but not as big as you think. The repair squad will have the mess throughout the base cleaned up by the end of the day. It's not like this is the first time something disastrous has destroyed the base. This is a training facility; this stuff is going to happen. Now for the results." Everyone turned to listen at this. They were all curious to find out what Lee actually was. "According to the data our scanner picked up before you destroyed it, your power level was around 300 million. Luckily, the one at the base, the really big one, remained intact. In fact, it is probably the only thing still intact. With its data, we got some final results. Power level for you as a mage with no other factors is at a power level of 315 million. This puts you right up at the SSS+ rank. For the record, your dad, Grayson and myself are all in the SSS+ rank as well. It is actually a requirement for generals to be in the SSS or higher rank. Next is your Max output result. Before I tell you this one, I will tell you that the power difference from general power output while gathering power and an attacks power are completely different. Naturally, an attacks power is multiple times stronger than a general output and is rating system is different as such. But still, it was an exceptional level. The Maximum output level with that attack you used was a whole 2.5 billion, enough to put the attack in the SSS+ specials. That is the second highest attack ranking there is. The next level up is 2.6 billion and higher called "Z". It doesn't have a limit. By the way, I have never seen that attack before, what is it."

Lee was about to say he had no idea what the attack was when Haruno sort of sent the data directly to him into his mind. Lee paused for a moment, making sure he understood it correctly. "Okay, according to Haruno, the attack's name was the **SHOOTING STAR, RANGNAROK BREAKER.** It is a combination type attack fusing two attacks together. One is mine and the other one is supposed to be an attack of equal power from a close by friend. Haruno calls it a combination type attack. My half was my **PURE LIGHT BREAKER** and I think the other one was called, **STARLIGHT BREAKER.** By the way, as I am in the dark to exactly what a combination attack is, would you mind explaining it to me?" Grayson was the one to answer this question, "Some mage who meet a certain requirement are able to use Combination attacks. They are attacks that use both the users and a friend of the users attacks to create an all new, much more powerful attack. The actual requirement for this is not known. In fact, not much is known at all about combination type attacks. Not many mages can do them and most of those who could weren't able to use it at will. They could only use it when pushed into a corner. They combine two attacks from two different people through one blast to create the attack." Lee looked around the room for a second and then asked, "So would anyone like to lay claim to that other attack I used. I would love to know exactly what I fired?" He looked around, and then Nanoha spoke up, "That would be my attack. It's my finisher, the **STALIGHT BREAKER. **It's an attack that summons magic from every possible source, not just the user. It probably took a bit of power from everyone here to gain its attack power. Of course, it is still completely dependent on the users own magic for the main power. I was surprised when I saw you start to form it."

Just then, a woman barged into the room, apparently very tired from flying for a while and red in the face with anger. "YOU"VE BETTER HAVE SOME DAMN GOOD EXCUSE READY FOR THIS TO TELL TO THEM BIGWIGS BACK AT HEADQUARTERS. I DON'T WANT THIS TO ESCALATE. IT WOULD BE MY DEPARTMENT WHO WOULD BE GIVIN HELL IF YOU DON'T START TALKING." Everyone turned around to look at the new visitor. "Hey," she said, "where is Jack?" Everyone looked around to see where Jack had gone. He had disappeared. Then she walked over to the closet and opened the door, where Jack then appeared and said, "You found me!" The woman then took Jackson by the collar of his uniform and pulled him to his feet. "Damn, I was hoping I could leave before _you_ got here," Jackson said under his breath. She gave him a nice right hook to the chin and sent him surprisingly far across the room, hitting the opposite wall. "Owe, that hurts you know." She then stomped across the room and once again brought him up by his shirt. "So I'm waiting, what explanation do you have _this_ time?" Then she saw everyone else around the room. She dropped the half beaten to death general on the floor.

"Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself, I am General Lindy Veron, a pleasure to meet you." She then saw General Grayson, "Hello again, long time no see." "Same here." Then she turned to John and then said, "Johnny, how you been getting along. Didn't expect to see you here. It's been so long since I saw you. How are the kids?" He pointed behind him to Lee, Sarah and Sora. "These are the kids right here, left is Sora, the oldest. Next to him sitting in the chair is Sarah, my youngest and the one in the bed is Lee, the middle one." She looked puzzled for a second, then said, "I thought you said that your kids weren't mage or even had an ounce of magic. I remembered you were all depressed when the tests showed them all with nothing." "Well, they didn't until about a few months ago, a bit before I was able to go home. It was very sudden. Wasn't really prepared for it actually."

"Okay, okay," Jackson said, getting up, "why don't we go to my office, I was told it wasn't damaged too much and most of the repairs on it are finished so it would be much better than here." They got up, Lee was going to walk when he suddenly felt his bed move on it's own. "You don't get to move until your fully healed, which at this point you are far from, even you should of noticed that you still can't move your legs." After Jackson finished, Lee realized that he was quite right so he, his bed and all moved into the elevator. He had to go down first due to the amount of space he took up. He was wondering how his bed was moving when Jackson said, "Magic, obviously." They headed across the complex towards the general's office. In the back of the procession, Sarah had decided to walk with General Lindy. "So your John's kid, a pleasure." Sarah then asked, "So, how do you know my dad?" "We went through the same training courses for becoming T.S.B.A mages and we became friends pretty quickly after he shot down a plane drone that had gone berserk and tried to kill me. We were also in the same ground squad for 4 years after that and we kept in touch, then we both kept getting promoted until we were where we are now." Sakura went back to hear their conversation and also to ask a question herself. "Um, Miss. General Lindy, can I ask you a question?" "First off, you just did, second, I hate formality with a vengeance so none of that Miss. General crap please and thirdly, sure, fire away." Sakura was taken aback by this abruptness, but then preceded to say, "How did you get here to the base, I thought it was impossible to leave or come to this planet due to the Dimensional shift." "Ah, good question. Actually, it isn't impossible, just very difficult. No normal mage could even come close to the planet. In fact, only a Portal type mage has even a slight chance due to there in born talent for teleportation magic. I happen to be one of the best damn teleportation mages in the entire T.S.B.A. I have even been given the nickname, "Goddess of the gates." What you have to do is try and find the weak point in the dimensional shift, a point as far away from the source as possible so it has the least damage, and concentrate on pushing your gate through. It takes a lot of effort, even for me and there is no guarantee that the weak spot is weak enough to break through. It just happens that this is a REALLY small dimensional shift so the weak spot was weak enough to penetrate. Unfortunately, it's a one-way pass. If you get into the barrier, you can't get out so you have to be careful." Sakura looked at General Lindy with admiration. "I hope I get good enough at portals some day to be able to do that. I've actually only made a portal a few times. Magic in general is still new to me. I got my powers just a few weeks before Sarah." "Another portal type, well good for you. Here is a bit of advice, don't just focus on the location, feel it out. That should make it easier."

They arrived at Jackson's office, which didn't look at all damaged like the rest of the building. He just said, "One of the perks for being a general, you are always a first priority." They all sat down, except for Lee who was still confined to his bed for the inability to walk for a bit. He found that he could move the bed too if he focused a bit. He remembered that he could levitate stuff with his magic so he wasn't too inconvenienced. They said that he could probably walk after a day. After they were all situated, Lindy said, "So are you going to tell me just what in the hell happened here or what!" "Okay, Okay," said Jackson, "I will explain everything. It all started with a training exercise. We were testing out his total power level output and max peak output when it happened. Actually, this is the second time he has destroyed everything around him during a power testing. He did it to his own dad's ship yesterday. When he reached his maximum, he couldn't power down due to the enormous amount of it he had summoned. To kill two birds with one stone, he directed all of it into one attack. Even he didn't know how strong that attack would be as it was apparently his first time doing it. He fired it off into space and the resulting explosion from the attack caused a small Dimensional Distortion. And that's the story. It was just a training accident so no harm done, you can just let it slide." Lindy looked at Jackson for a second as if waiting for more. When no one said anything, she said, "Well, is that all the detail your going to give me. I asked for a full report. We may both be generals but I still feel like yelling at you anyways. I want details, footage, names, and power readings. Get on it already."

He fumbled around for a bit, getting things together. Then he passed Lindy an electronic tablet with all the data on it. "Okay, lets see what we got here. Mage's name: Lee Cross, so it's one of John's relatives. Next we have his power level. Now that's a hell of a number, 315 million with a SSS+ ranking. Not bad, not bad at all. Next we have a Max peak attack reading." Her eyes widened as she saw the number. "It say's here that it's at 2.5 billion with a "SSS+ special" ranking. Is that correct Jackson?" Jackson said in a low voice, "Yes, that was the reading." He continued on, "There's a side note here too, wonder what that is." She pressed on the note to bring it up on the tablet, "Says here that the attack used for the testing was a 'combination type'. A _real_ combination type, didn't expect that one." She looked over the data again, and then said, "Damn, I like this guy, all his stats are insane. I have got to meet this guy. Jackson, arrange a meeting with this mage on the double. I want to see him personally." Jackson replied, "No need for that, he's already here."

She looked around the room at the seven candidates in the room. The data said it was a male so she looked around the room for a second. "Okay, it obviously isn't you two," she pointed at Matt and his dad, "I don't even get a reading from either of you." She walked over to Garret and Chrono. "You two are decent, I'll give you that but not quite there. My guess is that the two of you are in the mid to high A class, probably either AA or AAA or something like that. Nice ranks for such young mages. Keep it up." She got to Lance and said, "I know who you are, and you're that Lance kid from the energy wave incident back a few years. I heard that you were not a fighter so that rules you out." Then she got to Sora and Lee. "Well, both of you are defiantly the most powerful ones out of all the other candidates." She looked at Lee for a second and measured his current power, which wasn't as much as normal due to the accident. "Your both Cross's children too so it got to be one of you." She looked at Sora for a second. "Taking into account that a bit may still be gone from the test, I would say you are the best bet. Your Lee, right?" Sora then said, "Sorry, you got it wrong. I am strong, but not that strong. I am only an S+ ranked mage. HE," he pointed at Lee, "is Lee, the SSS+ wonder mage." She looked at Lee for a second, and then said, "You're the SSS+ mage?" Lee thought she was going to say that this was all a joke or something, but to his surprise, she said, "Would have never guessed that, a teenage SSS+ mage and able to do true combinations to boot. You're all right in my book kid. You've got stuff, and a lot of it." She then said, "Alright, as were all stuck together on this rock with a nice training facility, were turning tomorrow into a field day everybody, that includes you Jackson. It will be a ton of fun. Not like there's much else to do around this joint. Besides, been forever since I've actually had a good workout, mostly due to the lack of worthy sparring partners. It's tuff being a strong mage." Jackson was about to refuse when General Grayson stepped forward saying, "Good idea, I think I'll join in too to help out with the good stuff." Knowing he was out numbered with authority, he gave up and said, "Fine, I'll have them clean up the magical residue on the training field by tomorrow. And as an extra precaution, I'll also set the training barrier as a top priority as well. I would have put it up in the first place but I really didn't expect that attack to do what it did.

After the meeting, Jackson had a low class mage show them to the guest rooms, which were already repaired due to Jackson's orders. While Lindy stayed in her room watching videos of Lee's training session, analyzing it for herself, Lee was confined to his room due to his legs temporary paralysis. It was only due to a magic block due to the lack of magic he had since his training session. He was told to just rest until tomorrow when it would be good as new. He had the constant attention of his friends who stood at his bedside to keep him company. Sora and Garret were outside in the underground training hall. It was there even though there was one outside for stormy days. It was much smaller but it was still big enough for some good training. They sparred with each other for a bit. Even though his rank was 5 levels below his, Garret was a tough opponent. He obviously had extensive training. It was tough because as with everything, power isn't the only thing. There are other variables as well while fighting and Sora was leaning that Garret had all those pinned down as well. It was a good sparring session. During this time, communications were repaired so John called Chrono and Sakura's parents to tell them that their children and Nanoha would be going to sleep over at a friend of Lee's and wouldn't be home for another two days. They were worried at first but then John told them that he would guarantee their safety. He was after all, a bodyguard. John was a certified bodyguard that took real assignments on earth.

Later, they ate dinner and talked a bit more. Then around ten, they decided it was going to be a long day tomorrow so they decided to turn it in early. They all went to their respective rooms. As there weren't too many rooms that were fixed up, they were sharing rooms. Nanoha, Sarah and Sakura shared a room and Lance, Chrono, Sora and Lance shared a room (Lance had to sleep in his ferret state so there was enough room.) All the Jackson girls were sharing a room and the Jackson boys also shared one room. Each of the general's got his or her own room out of courtesy and respect. They all slept soundly that night and woke up early the next mourning.

They were all surprised when they woke up, except for the general's, Lance and Nanoha who had already expected it When they woke up, they were surprised to find that everything looked as good as new. Not even a crack was left from yesterday's events. Another thing was that in each of their room's there was a fully laid out breakfast table with a full assortment of breakfast's from earth. When Lee got up, he realized his legs were as good as new, if not better. They all dug in when a message appeared over each of their tables on a floating intangible screen. It said to meet at the training field entrance gate a 9 am sharp. It was 8:30 currently so they all ate hurriedly and headed out to meet at the Gate. When they got there, General Lindy was waiting for them. "Okay maggots and general's alike, today were going to have some fun."

Jackson opened the giant door in front of the training grounds, and then he walked in with everyone, including all the Jackson's following suit. "Okay, first we are going to do a warm up. Lets see," She looked around for a minute. "Okay, we'll start off with 1 lap around the arena for all mages over AA rank. That includes you Jackson," she added while spotting him trying to walk away. "General Grayson, can I ask you to help by flying up and making sure no one," she eyed Jackson, "tries to cheat or otherwise run away." "Sure, I would be glad to help." He said to his watch, "Release WATUSE" He was now wearing a gray and black vest with a "T.S.A.B. badge on it with pure black armored pants. He also had a staff that had a triangular point with a round, empty bulge near the top point. He flew up and to the middle of the grounds to get the best view. "Okay WATUSE, bring up the necessary data and area tracking." WATUSE was now a gray square in the middle of the round bulge blinked a few times and said, "IT SHALL BE DONE." 3 see through screens appeared in front of him with various bits of data and scanners on them. "Good to go," he yelled to them. "Good." She then turned to everyone and said, "One more thing, no magic." Everyone besides people with Cross as a last name jumped at this. For a cross, a seven-kilometer jog was nothing. It was child's play compared to their sword training but for the rest, it seemed like cruel and unusual punishment. "Sora," said Lee, "Want to have a race, my legs are all better now." "Sure, why not. Dad, you should join us too." "Nah, I wouldn't want to beat you two that badly, I think I'll just keep Jackson Company." They all got to the starting line. "Alright," said Lindy, "I forgot to mention that there is a prize, the first one to get back without cheating will get a prize. I of course will also be competing so don't get your hopes up." She got into line with them. General Grayson materialized a large screen in front of them. It had a countdown on it.

"3 2 1 _GO!_" They sped off the starting line with Lindy in the lead. For an average person, she was pretty fast. Lee then asked his dad with his mind, "Does Lindy know about our swordsmanship and stuff that goes along with it like SHUNPO?" "Not that I am aware of, I haven't seen her in a while and I never used those skills during mage training. I am not trying to keep it a secret though so if you want, go wild with it." Lee then turned to Sora, "He says its okay but she won't expect it." "Okay, how about we have some fun then." Lee looked confused so he went on, "Lets pretend for the first half of the race to be neck and neck with Lindy and then at the halfway point, we will have our race and see who is faster. And as a second thought, don't remove your weights." Lee agreed thinking it would be fun. They sped up to catch up with Lindy. "My, My, aren't you guys the fast ones. But lets see who is faster." She sped up a little and they followed suit.

Back at the very back of the procession, Sarah was running with Sakura who was terrible at this type of thing. Sarah could have even finished the race by now but didn't want to leave Sakura by herself. She decided to help Sakura a bit. "Sakura, try to stay close to me," s and she grabbed her hand. "What are you-,'" Sarah pounded the ground, giving them both a little bit of acceleration and speeding them towards the pack. "I won't do too much, just enough to make it look good." Sakura replied, "You're a good friend. I thought I was going to look like a loser coming in last place miles (literally) behind the competition. Now at least I'll look somewhat decent."

Lee and Sora were almost at the halfway point. They had been steadily keeping up with Lindy for their amusement but at the halfway; they were going to start their own race for real. Lindy saw as they sped up a little. "You guys are fast but not fast enough." She then went into an all out sprint. They let her pass them and waited until the halfway marker. When they passed it, they hit the ground hard, pounding it down and speeding forward. They were using SHUNPO now and going at a lightning fast pace. They sped past Lindy as blurs and left a track of dust in their wake. She wasn't sure what was happening but decided to call them on cheating after the race as to claim victory for herself. Grayson watched as they sped the second half. He could only keep track f where they were by the dust clouds. He looked at his scanner to pick up signs of their magic being used as proof of cheating but was surprised to find that there wasn't any reading at all, not even a faint one. Lee reappeared first followed by Sora a second later. Lee claimed victor and sat to the side on some benched to wait for the others. It took about another hour before everyone was across the finish line.

"Okay, now to announce the winner, due to cheating scum being disqualified, I get the gold," announced Lindy. "What do you mean cheating scum, I won fair and square," yelled Lee in outrage. "What do you mean fair, you used magic for a super boost and sped right past me? I saw it myself." "That wasn't magic," said Sora. "What do you mean not magic? You were booking at least 100 mph and you say you did it without magic, that's a good one." Nanoha stepped in to say, "That's right, they did it without magic, right guys." She turned to her friends. Chrono, Sakura, Lance, Sarah and John all shook their heads in agreement. "You tell them Grayson about Lee using Magic, you were keeping track of everyone's output and location, you surly noticed it." Grayson replied, "actually, that's been puzzling me, I didn't pick up any track of magic at all." Lindy, looking outnumbered admitted defeat and gave Lee first place, along with the special lunch he got as the prize.

"Okay, save that for later Lee, we still have time before lunch which means we have time to train. Next we have the other warm-up, this is for everyone. We are going to do a simple target practice." She turned around. "And those will be your targets." In the distance, a few glowing orbs were floating around. "If you hit it correctly, it will disappear. There are ten of them in all. Another thing, no staffs, you can only use magic you can do yourself. It will be good training for learning how to use spells without staffs _or_ incantations. Spells can be used without incantations and a staff if you focus hard enough, but their power is severely limited without the incantation." "Um, Miss Lindy," Matt said in a sort of quiet voice, "what if we can't do magic yet or are just beginning." "Except for that non-magic father of yours over there, I can see everyone has at least a lowest A ranking. I see no problem here, everyone here seems to be elite." Matt looked confused for a second, "What are you talking about, neither of my sisters can and I can barely make a ball of magic, let alone shoot one."

Now it was Lindy's turn to be confused. "What are you talking about? I'm sensing at least A+ to AA from you and A from BOTH of your sisters. If this is a joke, it isn't funny." Now everyone turned around looking confused. Now it was Lillian's (Mrs. Johnson) turn to speak out, "I don't know what you're talking about, my daughters can't use magic and I am pretty sure I would be able to tell if my own son was a AA class mage." "Okay," sad Lindy, "You all go and practice over there, Grayson will supervise while I get these three ready. Okay, you three," she looked at Rachel, Louise and Matt, "You'll be going over there with me. It looks like I need to teach you proper magic focusing technique. It seems you were never taught, or at least taught right." They all went over with confused expressions to a separate area of the training grounds as the others did target practice.

"Okay, you three are about to learn to harness you magic, correctly." She snapped her fingers and the area within 20 yards changed suddenly. The ground disappeared and was replaced by a stone floor. "It s usually easier when not on the ground, and more comfortable." Then she told them to all sit down. "Okay, proper magical focusing is relatively simple but most mages, who already learned it don't have to bother with it a second time. Some are also born with it. Once you get it down once, it is impossible to forget, it will become second nature instantly. By the way, here's some advice. All mages have the capacity to become A ranked mages. It all has to do with how they use their magic. This includes how they focus and draw it out." Then Louise said, "Are you sure I have magic, I've tried everything and didn't get a drop." "100% sure little girl. Okay, for starters, I'll use you," she pointed at Matt, "as an example of how _not_ to draw out magic. Show us what you got, Matt." Matt tried and managed to summon a very small ball of magic. "I think I see your problem right off the bat, but for learning purposes, please tell me how you summoned that." "Right, I did it the way my mother said she was taught. She said to focus on one spot and the magic would flow there with enough concentration." Lindy looked like she was about to laugh herself to death, "Well its no wonder why you suck, your trying to pull something from nothing. This explains everything. I bet your mother was born knowing how to summon magic. What she told you only applies to those who are born with that instinct. Well, I guess I should tell you the correct way now. You say you concentrate on a spot and nothing else, right. Well this time, try to feel out the magic and where it's coming from." He did and he tried to feel out where it was coming from. "Okay, Lindy, I think I found it." "Good, now just keep doing that, jut keep locating the source until you know you got it. Now I am going to work with you sister."

"Okay little girlies, time to get started. By the way, what are your names, I don't think you introduced yourselves yet?" Rachel responded, "My name is Rachel and her name is Louise. Were Grayson's nieces." "So your Grayson's family, no wonder I sense good potential. Getting on with it, unlike Matt, I am guessing that neither of you are able to even summon magic, right?" Louise answered, "That's right, and I've tried everything." Lindy thought for a second. "I figured out why, you two are probably still to young to summon it yourselves, Matt has reached the typical age that all mages brought up in a non-mage family usually manifest their powers for the first time." "Does that mean we have to wait until he are his age then?" said Rachel. "Don't worry, for those of this type of background, there is another method, watch." Lindy produced a small ball of very light blue magic, like the sky, in each of her hands. "Magic is typically drawn to magic, watch, put your hands out." They did and she dropped the balls of magic in their hands. TO their surprise, they found that they could hold them. "Good, now your own magic should try and find my magic and if I am right, the color will change when your magic takes over. When that happens feel for its source." They looked at the balls of magic. Suddenly, Rachel's started to turn purple and Louis's started to turn magenta. "Good, good, now feel out the source." It only took about ten seconds before both of them said, "Found it."

"Next is trying to make a ball of energy about as big as the ones I handed the girls," she said to them, "Do the same thing as Matt was doing but this time, try and guide the magic there from the source you just located." Matt went first, and to his surprise, a perfect sphere of lime green magic as big, if not slightly bigger than Lindy's appeared almost effortlessly. Next Rachel tried it and to her delight, a nice sized ball of purple magic, also seemingly effortlessly. Next Louise gave it a try, and she managed to make one too without too much trouble. "Okay, that's good, you've all just finished Magic focusing instruction 101, congratulations." They all looked confused, "What are you talking about, you just taught us how to make a tiny ball of magic." "Oh really Matt, try and summon as much magic as you can, but this time, don't direct it, let it flow out your body." Matt thought this a waste of time but did as he was told.

Chrono was in the middle of shooting practice while everyone watched. They had finished already. Then, they felt a surge of energy. None of them recognized it so they headed toward the source. When they got there, they all were surprised. Matt was standing on a concrete surface with a lime green magic circle under him and pouring out magic, and a nice amount of it too. "What the hell is this," said Mr. Johnson. "Okay, next the girls," Lindy said, "Try doing it to." They did and two more surges of magic appeared from each of the girls. Everyone looked on as they saw the three seemingly magic-less kids summon their magic all at once. A purple one appeared under Rachel while a magenta one appeared under Louise. "Ok," she took out a diamond shaped sapphire jewel and spoke to it, "can you get me a reading ARLAND." "IT IS DONE," said the Jewel, "Main scanner connected," a screen appeared in front of Lindy. "Keep it going you three," she said to Matt, Rachel and Louise. Their magic got stronger. After about another two minutes of it, they all suddenly started glowing, then the glow seemed to be sucked away from them into a sphere in front of them. Then Lindy said, "Okay, that's enough, you can stop now." They did and as they did, their circles vanished and the glowing spheres got smaller until they turned into a green triangle jewel for Matt, a small purple cube jewel for Rachel and magenta pentagon jewel for Louise. They then hung themselves around their necks. They looked confused so lindy said, "Your own magical devices made from your own magic. They are created the first time a mage hits their peak like you guys just did. Though it doesn't happen to all mages. Some just can't manifest them so count yourselves lucky. I also have readings for you. Louise is an A ranked mage, Rachel is an A+ ranked mage and Matt is a AA mage. All are exceptional readings for teens and lower. Nice job you guys.

Everyone went over to congratulate the three on their accomplishment. Then while that was going on, Lillian went over to Lindy and asked, "How did you know, I thought I tried everything?" Lindy replied, "I didn't teach them anything. They already knew on some level, I just brought it to their attention. That is how it usually is in these types of cases." Lillian then asked, "But how did you know that they even had magic, I couldn't sense anything, nor could Grayson for that matter." "That would be something that only someone like me could do. I was born with overly acute magic senses so I can pick up on any trace of magic, no matter how small or suppressed or hidden it is. It is also one of the traits of a person who is able to shift through Dimensional shifts develops as well. To put it bluntly, your children's magic was like gold in a mine. You had to dig for a bit but when you found it, you hit the jackpot." "Well thank you, I know you made them happy and you made me happy as their mother too." "Don't mention it, just part of what I do. If you didn't know, my division is responsible for the training of mages so I do this type of thing all the time."

"So lets see you transform," said Nanoha. "Good idea," said Sakura. "Okay, said Matt, lets see here," he took out his green triangle, "So whatcha called?" The triangle replied, "ZAMARETSU, here to serve," said the triangle. "Okay ZAMARETSU, SET UP," next came a flash of light and then Matt was wearing a Green blazer with a black shirt underneath with dark green pants with a black stripe going down each side. He was holding a staff with a white handle and a light green head that looked like a "U" with a complete circle at the top, connecting the two ends. "Cool," said Matt. Next, Rachel gave it a go. Her cubes name was VIOLET JOY. "VIOLET JOY, SET UP." She transformed into a pure purple blazer with a pure white shirt underneath. She had a light violet dress with white stripes on it. She was holding a small staff that had a very light white handle and a light violet head which was a perfect sphere surrounded by three thick circles, all connected making a sort of mini barrel. Rachel looked happy. Next up was Louise, who found out that her magenta pentagram's name was ROSE LIGHT. "ROSE LIGHT, SET UP." She transformed into a white shirt with a pure magenta blazer with a white L on the back. She was wearing a white dress with Magenta stripes going down half way from the bottom up. It also had magenta frills on the edges. Louise looked overjoyed as she found that she was able to fly around. Her older brother had to fly up and catch her before she flew to far away.

"Okay, now that we all know some magic, non-mages excluded, we can get to some real training. We will start with some preliminary exercises. A generic to every mage is that they have at least three attacks, a minor, average, and power attack. This exercise is to launch each one successfully at a target. For those who use close combat attacks, you can move to the target, otherwise, your planted were your feet are. Understood?" Everyone nodded their heads with uncertainty. Lee was thinking, "This isn't going to come out good," with an expression of apprehension on his face.

Everyone transformed into his or her barrier jackets and their staffs appeared before them. They all started to prepare and were thinking what attacks they were going to use. Lee went up first for an example. He knew which attacks right off the bat. He first shot his **GLOWING SHOOTER** at the target, hitting dead center, followed up by his **SHINNING BUSTER**, which they couldn't tell if it was a bull's eye because he had destroyed the target along with the dummy. Next he prepared to fire his original (the first one he used) **PURE LIGHT BREAKER** and was thinking that he was probably overdoing it with this attack. To his surprise, when he fired it off, he only felt a tiny bit of fatigue, and it disappeared almost instantly. He looked surprised at this when General Grayson said to him, "Surprising, isn't it, how little that attack seemed to tire you. The reason is simple; you've grown since you last used it. I am guessing when you first used it, you exhausted yourself." Lee nodded at this, "well, without knowing it, since then, you've used magic that takes multiple times more, like the **SHOOTING STAR, RAGNAROK BREAKER**. That attack took at least 50 times as much as that, so after doing that, this should seem like a walk in the park, but it still shows great improvement." Lee felt good with himself. All the newbie's looked at Lee's handiwork. His Breaker attack not only destroyed the target and dummy, it had created a deep ditch in the ground starting from where Lee was and ended at a crater around the size of 1 large city block.

Next, Nanoha went, she used **DIVINE SHOOTER, DIVINE BUSTER **and(a real) **STARLIGHT BREAKER.** But when she fired her Breaker, a wave much more powerful than expected shot out and cremated the dummy and mad a crater much bigger than Lee's attack. "Why was your Breaker so powerful?" asked Lee, wondering if he hadn't fully healed yet. Nanoha replied, "It's my attacks ability. It's power comes from the magic residue left around from previous attacks. Since the air here is so fully of your magic residue from when you fired that attack during the test, my attack was able to absorb a larger amount of magic than usual and powered up like that." "I see, cool attack." Next, Lance went up, but instead he showed three different barriers and shields, the third one with enough power that it could have defended a AA class attack with ease. He even said that if he tried, he could pump it up to S class. Nanoha made a point of saying that even though he was only in a few duels, Lance had never lost due to his opponents inability to hit him, then he could just go in with a weak generic mage attack (Something any mage could do) and get the easy win. Sakura followed with a display of her **SCARLET SHOOTER, CRIMSON FURY BUSTER **and her **C****rimson****S****niper****S****hot ****DRIVER. **Chrono soon followed with his three, **CRASH SHOT, GRAVITON STRIKE and O****ver****B****laze****S****triker.** Everyone was impressed with the last attack as Lee plummeted towards the ground, creating a huge explosion along with the largest crater of the day so far. What was more, he didn't look as exhausted as when he first used it. They were all getting stronger. Sarah was next in the line up with her set of three. Her first was a new attack that they had not seen before, it was called **DESTINYS BULLET, **it shot a small blast of white magic at the target that went ½ the way through. When it was half way through, it exploded causing the training dummy to do the same. Next was **PIERCING LIGHTS **with its two-stage assault. Finally, she used her **BLAZING DESTINY **to finish things off, once again amazing the newbie's or otherwise new people.

Next, Sora was up. He knew exactly which ones too. He started off with a **FLARE SLASH**, with a downward strike, sending the attack shooting along the ground vertically up, eventually ending up slicing up the drone in half. Lee was reminded of the EZUNA. Next was his ever-fast **FLAMING BLITZ CRIEGE** that hit the Drone so fast, most of the people hadn't registered it with their brains until it was over. Next was the **FLASH FLARE CANNON**, creating a crater slightly smaller in width with Chrono's but was deeper. Next, the Generals went. Each of them decided to do it the easy way just to show off. All three of them decided to just make spheres of magic with their hands that had the appropriate levels to get away easy. Each one was obviously flawless but the audience thought it somewhat anti-climactic. They were expecting a spectacular show of the Generals super impressive attacks. Next, Lillian (Mrs. Johnson) did the same obviously not wanting to be bothered showing off. Next was Garret, who used three attacks he called, **ANCIENT SIGNETS.** It was actually quite an interesting attack. They were all the same attack but each one was called a different Level. His first one was called **ANCIENT SIGNET Level 1 – SIGNS OF JOY**, a small ball of silvery M.E. The second was **ANCIENT SIGNET Level 4 – SIGNS OF SADNESS,** which produced a Ray of spiraling Silver energy. The third one was **ANCIENT SIGNET Level 7 – SIGNS OF SHOCK,** which was a two part attack that started off with a small bolt of magic shooting at the enemy, followed by a giant blast of spiraling energy. Though he was only ranked a AA+ mage, he created the biggest crater by far. Grayson, seeing their surprise said, " The only reason he isn't an SS class elite mage is because my nephew is probably the laziest person in the universe. He has the power, but not the drive. So, by his own request, he remained a AA+ rank taking on less difficult assignments." Lee went over to his dad and asked, "What type of attack was that, I've never seen it before?" His father replied to the eager crowed who came over to listen, "Garret uses a rare attack type called a Gate Attack. These attacks are superiorly strong compared to normal attacks of the same level. For example, if a B mage did a simple blast with B+ ranking, then a B mage who did a simple style blast with a Gate attack with the same amount of magic would create an attack of AA+ power. These users Gate Attacks are highly concentrated beyond what a normal mage can do. These attacks also have 8 Limits or Levels. What he showed you was his Level 1, 4 and 7 attacks. He could still go up one more level and rumor has it that the 8th level of a Gate Attack is almost 5 times as strong as the seven." Everyone looked over at Garret with surprise, including his own siblings who looked over with amazement. All accept his own Mother who already knew the full extent.

Last was the magic newbie's, and then Lindy stepped in, "Since you are all new to the game of magic, your exercise is modified a bit. You all only need to do an average attack. That shouldn't be too difficult. If you aren't sure, ask Nanoha, who pulled off much more when she was younger than all of you or Sarah or any of the generals when they were your age." They all lined up and transformed. They were all wondering what they should do when Matt's green triangle, ZAMARETSU said, "Try **METEOR CRASH**." Going with the flow and the directions that he mentally got from ZAMARETSU, he pointed his staff at the rocks and a medium sized sphere of green magic appeared in front of his staff. It shot off at high speeds, leaving a glimmering trail of sparkles in its wake as it passed and hit the target, obliterating it. Next was Rachel, who asked her cube VIOLET JOY what she should try. It responded by sending the instructions directly to her head. "Okay, lets do it," she said. She pointed her staff straight up and said, "**VIOLET RIBBON**" A sphere appeared atop the staff. Then she brought the staff down and aimed it, "**SHOOT!**" A single ray of magical energy shot at the dummy from the staff, hitting the dummy and shattering it. "Cool" said Rachel. Lastly in the line up was the youngest of the entire group, Louise. She looked at her Magenta Pentagram and asked it what to do, to which it responded, "INNOCENCE CANNON." Going with the mental instructions, she pointed her staff up and said, "_The Chariot of Light, summon forth the power residing in me,_ **INNOCENCE CANNON!"** A ray of magenta light with a glowing silvery white aura faintly around it shot at the target, destroying it along with the dummy. It then hit the large boulder behind it, disintegrating it. Everyone looked surprised at this attack, which was obviously more powerful than the previous two. "Didn't expect that," said Lindy, "An attack that uses its chant for extra focusing power, who would of guessed a kid would use it." Everyone went over to congratulate them on their first successful spells.

"Okay, on to today's last exercise." They all looked with apprehension all over their faces. Most of them didn't know if they could go on. Most of them were also running low on their supply of magic as well due to all the exercises. Lindy then said, "I know your all probably exhausted most of your magic right now but don't worry, the last exercise doesn't require any magic at all. It is going to be a purely self defensive lesson about how to defend yourself without magic." Everyone except the Cross's group looked a little frightened at the idea of fighting without magic. Garret was the first to speak his opinion, "Now wait a second, just how is this going to be useful. We should be able to use our magic for anything?" Lindy smiled and said in a loud voice, "THAT IS WHERE YOU ARE WRONG LAZY MAGE, there are several situations you will probably find in during your future battles. The most common of which would be inside a AMF or Anti Magic Field. It is a special type of barrier field that negates any magic used inside of it. Also, any magic from the outside below the level of the barrier field is also nullified. And if your thinking you could just over power it, think again. This field takes an enormous amount of energy to maintain, and as such, the minimum level of an AMF is a SS rank. Out of everyone here, the only ones who would even have a chance of destroying it is us generals, Nanoha and the all star mini mage over there," she pointed at Lee.

"Back to the topic, another scenario which especially applies to you all is if you're in a situation where you cannot use magic die to the risk of exposing yourselves to the non-magic civilians on your planet. It's not like Mr. Lance over there will be able to get a barrier up the second something comes up or something." It was Matt's turn to speak up, "What about erasing memories, that could be an easy solution. I know he did it just the other day, he told me himself." This time, Lance spoke up to answer the question, "Actually, that is a very improbable idea. You need several things to already be in effect before it can be done. First, a special type of barrier has to be put up to hide the battle from the outside but at the same time keep the people on the inside from disappearing into a space shift like a normal displacement barrier, and that barrier took a lot of work before hand, I was charging it for almost an hour before use. Second reason why it is not probable is because even if the first requirement is achieved, there is no guarantee that someone left the space before the barrier was put up, even with preparation, I need at least a 5 minutes warning to put the thing up. The third reason why it is improbable is even if by some chance, the first two are achieved somehow, you would need to also prepare a memory modification spell powerful enough to erase all of their memories. Doing it one by one would take to long and again; I had to pre-charge the spell for half an hour. I was just lucky that time that the battle was so long as I couldn't charge two spells at once." Matt was looking for what to say next, then he replied, "But it is possible, and that time a few days ago when you did it is proof of it, you just need practice." Lee was the one to reply this time, "You can't account that time for a real life battle sim. That paticualar battle was set up and manipulated by us from the beginning to find out some facts, we even chose the location and timing for it so Lance had already charged the first of the two spells before the battle started. And before anyone asks if he pre-charge them every time, he has personally told me that pre-made spells only last about three hours before disappearing so that is the end of that idea." None of the other wise new people could come up with a different scenario so they decided to just go along with it.

"Okay, okay, settle down everyone. Now that the reasons for this exercise have been properly explained, shall we get on with it? First we will get into pairs, and for fun, the opponent has to be a non-relative, except if there is an odd person out." All the Cross's looked a like they were going to laugh. Unknown to more than half the group, the Cross's had their exceptional sword skill for just such a occasion. But before they could start, Lee saw his father, John walk over to Lindy and said, "Great idea but I think the rest of them are already outmatched in terms of skill compared to my family." Lindy just smiled and said, "Yes John, we all know you all are an exceptional family of AAA+ class or higher mages but that means squat for this exercise, everyone is on an equal field here, or did you forget the no magic rule already." John just replied with, "If you are not going to take my word for it, why not just see for yourself, you versus, lets see now, "he looked at his children, " Sarah, yeah, that'll be good. She could use the training. I'll even tell her to go easy." Lindy was now looking flustered at John, who was suggesting that she face a little girl. She then replied, "Okay John, have it your way, but remember, as the Non- magic combat teacher, I will not hold back."

It turned out that Jackson was much more skilled than he looked. He was also a master of barriers as well as some other things. As such, making a, AMF was no problem for him what so ever, so he covered a circle, 1 km in diameter for the anti magic practice space. Originally he was only intending on making one around 100 yards but increased it to this bizarrely large size at John's insistence. They decided to have the exhibition match between Lindy and Sarah before the last exercise for, what Lindy though would be a good demonstration. There was a rack of training weapons next to the makeshift arena lindy had formed with magic. Though the AMF was 1 km, the arena was only a standard 20m by 20m (IT was a physical object summoned before the AMF was erected so it remained when the AMF was put up.) To Sarah's luck, there was a wooden Japanese sword on the rack so she chose that. Lindy on the other hand chose a wooden pole for her weapon. Then they put on their training suits. On the armor, there were four red dots, one over where a vital organ was. Lindy explained that all you had to do to win was hit the red dot, either with your weapon or your bare hands. They both took their stances when Sarah got a mental message from her father, "_Do it nice and quick. Fast enough to stun the pants off of them. Try using ZERO HERIKOTSU to spook her a little._" She didn't know what her father was thinking but decided to listen to her father. She took her stance, preparing for the attack. Lindy had no idea what she was doing when Grayson yelled, "Begin." Except for those who knew it was going to happen, no one knew what happened. To them, it seemed that at the exact same moment that Grayson said to begin, three things happened. The first was that Sarah had gone from being on the opposite side of the arena to being several yards behind Lindy on the opposite side from where she had been. The second was the large ditch that appeared from where Sarah had started and ended where she was now. The last one was the single long slash mark on Lindy's armor, touching three out of the four vital marks. Then, another two things followed the first set of anomalies. The first was that both weapons were broken or otherwise. Lindy's staff then split clean in two right there and both pieces fell to the ground while Sarah's sword then turned to ashes in her hands and the dust was blown away. The last thing was that a few seconds after the attack transpired, Lindy fell to the ground. Due to a combination of the armor and Sarah's efforts, there was no scratch on Lindy but the force of the impact alone to an untrained was enough to render her unconscious for at least a half an hour.

As no one said anything, still trying to comprehend what was happening, John stood up and claimed a Sarah as the obvious victor. Lee then ran onto the arena and revived Lindy from her unconscious state. Due to the shock of what he witnessed, Jackson slipped up and lost control of his AMF, which dissipated. As such, Lee was able to use his magic to heal Lindy to as good as new in a few seconds. She sat up and looked around. At this time, everyone was gathering around her. To most of their disbelief, the entire event up to Lindy sitting up was only about 45 seconds. After she pulled herself together, she asked, "What happened, did I faint or something." John answered, "No, you were just rendered unconscious by Sarah, thereby losing the match. I thought you would put up more of a challenge than that." She looked around at the arena to see all the damage, then said, "Could someone show me footage of it, I've seemed to have amnesia or something because I don't remember the battle at all." Nanoha's raging heart had recorded it so she displayed it on a screen that came out of nowhere. All it showed was Sarah disappearing and reappearing and so on. It looked more like a slide show of photos than a video as everything appeared at once. Lindy then said, "Funny, now if you're done, can I see the real footage." General Grayson was the one to tell her the reality, "That there was the footage. I don't know how but she did that in front of our own eyes. Though that isn't saying much because we didn't see any of it. It just seemed to happen. One second, you are taking your stances, the next, all of this happens and you probably know the rest." Lindy didn't know how to react, none of them did until Grayson spoke up, "John, I am guessing you know what happened. Care to explain it to us?"

John knew that this was going to happen sooner or later, especially with his children here and all. "Okay, but on one condition. Whatever I say here stays here. In other words, this is our secret. I don't want people to know about this. I kind of like to think of it as my little secret weapon." Lee guessed that John knew and predicted that this was going to happen because he pulled out a document for them all to sign, swearing to secrecy. They all signed it, and John made sure to point out the inter-dimensional stamp of approval meaning that the contract to secrecy was good anywhere the T.S.A.B had power or any of it's associates. "_Little much, don't you think?"_ said Lee mentally to his father. "Okay, to start off, know that what you saw was not a magic of any kind. If you need proof, the fact that an AMF was up should suffice. It was just a style of swordsmanship," and John continued to tell them all about it.

The Cross Family and friends waited a few minutes as to let the larger faction get to grips and try to comprehend what John had just said. After ten minutes, Matt asked, "So how do you even train yourself to that level. Without magic, it seams impossible." John decided to answer, "Well, as you're sworn to secrecy, I guess there is no harm in telling you. The secret is that we are always training, even during our daily lives." They looked confused at this, so John took off one of the weights under his socks, which to them looked like an ordinary sweatband. He then put it on the ground. "That is the most crucial part to it all. That is a training weight. We each have 10 of those on 24 hours a day, seven days a week. See for yourselves." He walked away and waited, looking at them. Lindy approached it first and picked it up, or it should be said she _tried_ to pick it up. When she pulled up on it she realized exactly how heavy it was. Even with both hands, she faired no better. Thinking something was wrong; Garret went over and tried to pick it up. The others soon followed, individually having no luck as well. Finally, with the combined efforts of all three generals, they were able to lift it about a foot before dropping it. It created a small crater as it hit ground. John then went over and picked it up with easy. To everyone, it _looked_ no harder than picking up paper and he easily slid it back on his wrist. Jackson then asked, "So exactly how heavy is this thing?" John answered, "about 45 kilograms (around 100 pounds)." Everyone just looked wide eyed at the Cross's and they were all thinking "and they wear 10 of these things!"

After a few more minutes, Lindy said, "Okay, now that were done with today's class on insane stuff that should be labeled impossible, lets get on with the exercise. If your last name is Cross, just do what John tells ya. If you got a last name not nearly as silly as Cross, then your with me for some more realistic training." They split off, Cross's on way and everyone else another. While Lindy taught the majority on some very basic defense maneuvers (Like a simple block to stop punches and a few throws, all of which she tested out on Jackson), John decided to use the time he had to do something useful. He first showed Lee and Sora the Ki sword, a technique that allowed the user to make a solid sword at will with their Ki. More over, they could manipulate the shape and size. They also found that they could make over things as well like a small knife and such. As they practiced their Ki solidifying technique (Its proper name), John decided to try Sarah's hand at Ki again. It had only been about a week since he last attempted but he thought that doing it not on earth would be easier and a lot had changed. And if she could do it once here, she would be able to do it any time. He found his prediction to be spot on as Sarah was able to manage to create a ball of Ki in her first try. John also thought that being inside an AMF (Jackson had put it up again) probably made it a little easier as to make it impossible to accidentally use magic. By the time the session was over, Sarah was able to use ZAE SHUNPO and most the other techniques that Lee and Sora already knew. Around 3 in the afternoon, they headed back to the hotel complex. When they got back, it was to find that during their time inside the training field (they couldn't see anything from the middle as the field was surrounded by a tall wall and was 3 km in diameter) everything had been repaired.


	21. New Plan, New General, New alot of stuff

The Haruno Chronicles

Ch. 21 This one has a mixture of emotions in it as throughout the chapter, many wondrous things may happen.

Disclaimer: Everything, material, characters, locations ect… are property of the respective people.

Chapter 21 – New plan, New General, New a lot of stuff

They were all in General Jackson's room when a messenger came rushing in. "Sir, Headquarters has just finished their final analysis on the Dimensional Shift surrounding Fretica. The time at which inter-dimensional transport will be possible is exactly 1100 hours tomorrow. I have also another message with a red seal priority and a 2nd class secrecy level. If you would." The messenger handed the General a reading tablet. While he was reading over it, Sarah asked her father, "What is these class and priority things about. Is it important." John answered, "In this case yes. A red seal priority means that the someone who sent it higher than a general ranking and unless it was sent by the council, that message would be from Supreme General Commander Saito Yui. That rank is as high as a normal mage can get without being chosen for the special elite or Z squad or becoming one of the council. It is a very prestigious rank. The Supreme General Commander is the one who gives the orders and assignments out for us Generals. He also has the power to command anyone of lower ranks as well. As such, anything sent by him is automatically given the red seal priority as to get it to the recipient as soon as possible so they can reply quickly to keep things efficient throughout the entire T.S.B.A. Also, second-class secrecy level is basically a rule to whom the contents of the message can be revealed. A 2nd class secrecy level means that only the recipient and those otherwise directly related to the contents of the message can be told." When Sarah collected her thoughts, she said, "So this is a very important message then." "Yes indeed."

Jackson read through the message with a shocked face. There was also sadness there as well. When he finished, he said, "I have good news and bad news. As the good news would sound weird without the bad news, I'll start at the low end. Unfortunately, while on duty to try and track the source of a Lost Logia somewhere in Earth's general dimensional quadrant, something struck General Ferro's private ship, blowing it to pieces. Luckily, all of the crew managed to escape, including the general but not unharmed. Something had entered the ship and started to attack the crew. None were exempt from the attack, including the general. The strange thing was that it didn't kill any of them, but it took their most important part of them as mages, their Linker Core's. A Linker Core is the source for a mages Magic. According to examinations, most of the crew's members will be able to heal their Linker Core's, as they are still young. It is easier for the young to heal their Linker Core's. Unfortunately though, General Ferro was the oldest of all the generals and is not so lucky. His Linker Core was permanently damaged and therefore, he has been forced to retire himself as a General and has decided that now would be a good time to go into retirement. This Leaves the T.S.A.B vulnerable, as there is now one less General in the ranks."

Everyone looked shocked and confused at once. Some of them hadn't got parts of it, but the atmosphere that the generals were giving off was enough to tell that something grave and unprecedented had just occurred. The generals all sat in silence in respect for the Generals duty and commitment. Jackson revealed to them that General Ferro was the one who had trained him personally and he had a good friendship with him. The gloomy air was so thick that they all felt ill. After almost 5 minutes, Lee couldn't take anymore. He spoke up, "Well, what is the good news." Jackson and the rest recovered from their state and he said, now back to normal, "yes, there is some good news. As I said before, The T.S.A.B is weakened greatly by the absence of a general. Due to this, the council immediately fills the position as soon as possible. Just for times like this, they keep tabs on all SSS or higher mages and already have the candidates ready so they already have announced the new General." All the other Generals looked at him, "So who is it already?" said Lindy. Jackson said, "Well, I will tell you this, because of this promotion, you shouldn't tease John anymore." John looked confused and said, "and what does that have to do with anything?" Jackson said, "Because, seeing all Generals are of equal status and to be treated as such." Everyone needed a second to register what he had just said, then when John was done, he said in complete surprise, "you don't mean–." "That's right, as of today, you are now promoted to GENERAL CROSS, leader of the 5th section. The same one you already were in."

Everyone turned to look at John, who was shocked. They all stared at him for a minute, then he stood up, went to the window and yelled, "HELL YAH, I'm A GENERAL BABY. WOO HOO, OH YEAH!!!" Everyone looked at him, he had a look of pure happiness on his face, and then John sat back down. Then Lindy came over and hugged him, "I'm so happy for you John, we final did it, and we finally kept our promise." At the word "promise," everyone looked confused, so Lindy said to them all, "A long time ago as you all know, John and I were good friends in the training academy. We worked hard there and graduated with high marks, and right after graduation, we made a promise to each other. The promise was that one-day, we would both be able to look each other in the face as Generals and now we have. SO good for you John." After it was all done, everyone went over to congratulate John on his promotion. John secretly to himself was very happy, as one of his biggest dreams had just come true.

When they were done with the congrats ect… Jackson went ahead with what he was saying. "Don't worry John, there isn't going to be any formal ceremony or nothing, you just have to go to a small party made up of Generals, their adjacent or what we call their Captain Commander and a member of the council. These parties are surprisingly informal and you will have to bring your family. Also as customary, the banquet will be held on the new generals home world so the party will be held on Earth. Besides your family, you are allowed to invite up to 5 other people as long as they know about the T.S.B.A. The date and time are to be decided, you will be sent a notice and a few other things have to be done. Though the official _public _announcement to all mages about this isn't going to be until the banquet, all the generals and their adjacent know about it. Also, just because the official announcement isn't until the party, you officially were instated as an active general the second that I told you so you still have to perform General's duties immediately. First, you need to chose your new adjacent, you can chose anyone from your section with at least a AA rank. Also, you need to chose out your new private ship and move into your new office and a bunch of other things. By the way, your current crewmembers, the ones from the ASURA are as your direct underlings, the new crew of your private ship as is custom. You by the way, as another custom, have to tell your section that you are their new General. Absolutely no one in section 5 has been told yet as is another tradition. That will be your first assignment as a general. Unfortunately, you cannot get back to your ship until tomorrow so you will just have to do it tomorrow. And that is all that's been written."

After that, they all went to do various things. Lee asked Sora to spar with him in magic. Since he had devoted a lot of time to his sword studies, he hadn't been getting in much mage practice so they went back out to the training field to Spar. Surprisingly, they were no longer tired from the day's earlier training. As for the Johnson kids, they had asked their older brother to teach them something cool. He didn't know how to teach too well so Lance and Nanoha decided to go and help, thinking it would be fun. Chrono and Sakura, getting into the mood decided, even though they were slightly tired, to also do a mock battle like Lee and Sora. Sarah went and worked on her Ki training some more in the mean time. The Generals (Now including John) were remaining In Jackson's room. John had asked them to tell him about certain things. Apparently, it was tradition (what is with all of this tradition stuff) for a new general to meet with at least two other generals once to ask all the questions that anyone in that position would ask. The rest of the day passed relatively fast and it as time for bed before anyone knew it. All not knowing what the next few days would bring.

When they woke up the next morning, it was 9 o'clock. They all ate breakfast together as it was their last day on the planet. During breakfast, a message for the new general came. It said that the time and place of the party was exactly one week from today at 6 pm at the Fraise De Grand, an extremely fancy restaurant in the middle of lower Tokyo that Lee had only been to once when he was younger for his uncle Will's wedding. Chrono and Sakura on the other hand had been there many times (remember, both of their families are very rich). They said it was a good restaurant so John didn't complain. Jackson had told him last night that when he had said informal, he should have said _less_ formal. There had to be some amount of decency for a General's Party after all. There was something else in the message as well. It was his first mission assignment from the Supreme General Commander. To his surprise, it was a Lost Logia Mission on Earth. "So they did know about it," said John. Lee looked confused and said, "What do you mean?" John answered, "I was wondering for a while if the T.S.A.B. knew about you and your friends collecting those Saren Stones. Believe it or not, those stones are classified as Class 1 Lost Logia. I guess they thought as they weren't causing Dimensional damage and it is technically an non-administered planet, they would leave it to you guys, who were natively from that planet. They sometimes do that as to not waste their resources."

Sarah then said, "So what are lost Logia anyway? Lance and Nanoha have told us they are relics from some lost, advanced civilization. So can you tell us something?" Grayson was the one to answer these questions, "Very well then, I will tell you the story. It starts off with an ancient magical civilization by the name of Azhard. This civilization existed more than a 100,000 years ago by current records. It is said that at the beginning, it was a normal planet that evolved like a normal planet into a regular society. But for some reason, this civilization went farther into evolution and achievement unlike any other planet before or since. It evolved beyond what we could imagine. But, it evolved too much and they ended up destroying themselves and creating the largest Dimensional Dislocation in all of our recorded history. The planet ceased to exist but many fragments of their achievements and their technologies of their civilization somehow survived and were scattered throughout all of the dimensions. Some found them and tried to learn from them. Some are harmless and even beneficial but there are some that are very dangerous, like those Saren Stones, which are given a class 1-danger notice. Anything with a class 3 to class 1 danger notice has been labeled to dangerous to be loose so the T.S.A.B usually collects them and seals them away from society. Although, like in your case, well at first at least, they thought you would be able to handle it so they didn't interfere. But it seams the higher ups decided that they are too dangerous so now your father is in charge of collecting them." They all listened with intrigue as they ate breakfast.

After breakfast, they went and got their things ready (not that they had a lot). When they were ready, they said good-by to General's Grayson, Lindy, and Jackson. Although, it wasn't for too long as they would all see them again in a week at John's party for his promotion to General. It turned out that the Johnson's would be at the party as well as each General was aloud to invite 5 guests and Jackson gave Grayson one of his so that all of the Johnson's could come. Apparently, the wives of general's were already counted as guests without invitations so Jackson, without kids didn't really need any of his invitations. They said good bye and then were transported onto the Asura, where Amy was waiting for them. They decided to take the ASURA home because of what John had to tell his crew. When they appeared in the teleportation room, Amy was waiting for them. "Where have you been, this ship has been in a state of Chaos since that attack yesterday on the General and we don't know anything else, the ASURA still has a few problems in need of fixing, though they said that they needed to give us a new ship. This one is out of date. So can you tell us anything?"

John said that al would be explained when he got everything settled. He said that he was going into his room for a while and when he came out, he would explain everything and that he was not to be disturbed until then. Then they all left for his room that was more like a house. He then asked all of his children to go into his bedroom and asked the Johnson's to stay in the living room for a bit. They said okay and the Cross's went to his large bedroom. He then asked them all to sit down. "Okay, I need your help," he started, "first, I need your opinions on how I should tell your mom. I want to make it special." Sarah had already thought about this a bit. "This is an easy one dad, one of us, not you will tell mom over dinner. Trust me, I am a girl you know. She will go ecstatic." John said that she would trust her and that they would do it her way as no better suggestions came up.

Then he asked them, "Okay, now I have one more thing I need your help with. I am terrible when it comes to choosing people for stuff so I want you to read these five résumés and tell me which, in your opinion would make a good 2nd or Captain commander. It lists personalities, mage states and the likes. As for ranks, they are all over qualified so any of them would be good but I can't chose so I need your input. Also, please, please, please do not let a word of me asking you for help leave this room. I would be too embarrassed if anyone found out I was asking my kids for help, no offense." Sora said, "No offense taken, I think I can understand that." They looked at the five candidates. One was an experienced mage with a captain level and an S ranking, good with battle magic (attacks and shields) but not too good with other types. The second was surprisingly Rodger from the training room thing, and in a bigger surprise, he was a AAA+ ranked mage, even though his rank was just a lieutenant (one lower than a captain) and his stats were great in support magic and he had a good personality. The next was again, another shocker with Fredrick (other guy from training room thing) and was an S ranked lieutenant mage with great attack and support but no defense or healing or teleportation abilities what so ever. The fourth was another Captain level mage with a wide variety of abilities all over except for support. The fifth was Amy; John's used to be direct junior. Her stats were pretty good. Captain level, S ranked mage. Her abilities were strong in most areas except barriers and fields and she had a good personality as well. The three of them, after reading all five of them thought for a bit. Their dad wasn't lying when he said it was a hard choice. They had narrowed it down to three. As to make sure they put all doubt out of their dad's mind, they decided to all say the same one. They spoke to each other for minute and came up with an answer. "This one," they said in unison and handed John their candidate choice's sheet." John looked at it for a bit and said, "Okay, as all of you said it, I'll go with it. It does seem like a good choice too."

They came out of the bedroom and went to the large entry/ living room. They told the Johnson's that they could either stay or come with them to make the announcement. They decided to stay in the room, feeling like foreigners in a distant country, they felt a little intrusive. And so, they left John's room and went to the Main control room. John then made a ship wide announcement." Could you all come to main room 1 in 30 minutes for some important announcements? Dock the ship on spot and put it on temporary autopilot. Thank you." He then told them to follow him to main room one. When they entered, they couldn't believe their eyes, it was a huge concert like auditorium. John said, "It's for music nights or just when we need to gather ect…" The room was huge. John explained that the space in here was enlarged by magic so it was actually smaller on the outside than on the inside. He told them to sit right in front in the seats next to two seats he said were usually reserved for himself and his second (Amy).

By the time thirty minutes was up, almost every seat was filled, all eyes on the podium up front. All the crew was they're waiting for what was to come. When everyone got situated, John spoke, "Ah hem, excuse me, I have bad news and good news and some other news after that. First off, I regret to inform you that as you all know, an unknown attacked our sections general, General Ferro and his ship yesterday, leaving the crew and the General hurt and the ship in ruins. They all made it out alive so that is good, but unfortunately, due to injury, General Ferro has been forced to give up his position as General and retire from active duty." Everyone looked around and then the muttering began. "SO," John started again, "Because of this there are a few changes. And they are not necessarily bad. The council has decided the new General already. In my opinion, he is defiantly the best guy for the job. So as of now, you should all call me General Cross, though I won't hold it against you if you don't, you know how much I hate that formal stuff." Now even louder murmurings were going around the room. John continued up once more, "And now, that I am the new General, the position of Captain Commander is vacant so I guess I will have to fill it. It took me a while, I had some good candidates but in the end, I decided the position should go to Amy Verona." At this, Amy blushed so hard that her face resembled a tomato. She didn't know what to say. John then continued his string of announcements, "So Now that I have chosen the New Captain Commander, again, we have an open position. It's like the domino effect. Fill one, empty another. As for the new captain, it is customary for Amy to decide, as she is the previous one. And for my final announcement, as I am a general, as is tradition, my previous Crew, or you guys as I should say, are now my private crew for my personal ship. We will be moving into the brand new ship, the proto-type Artimis in three days. It is supposed to be state of the art so I hope you don't mind too much. That is all, please go back to your stations, thank you." He stepped down from the podium and everyone started to file out. He walked over to Amy and said, "Could you come to my office." She said yes, still blushing and she followed him out. John told his kids to be back in his room at one and that they could explore the ship until then or use the training room or something.

The kids went around the ship while John led Amy to what would what was his office. "Okay, as this is now technically your office, I think you should sit at the desk." Amy blushed and said, "No, that's okay, I like the couch better." He decided not to argue, seeing as she was the true owner of this ship anyway. "Okay Amy, I need you to first chose a new captain soon. I know this is all so sudden but we are under a deadline. So we don't have much time. Do you already have someone in mind?" Amy thought for a second and said, "Yes as a matter of fact. I think Rodger would be the good choice, if you agree." John replied, "Amy, it is your call. I am not asking for an opinion, I am asking for a choice. Whoever you chose _will_ become the one to take your place. SO you want to chose Rodger." She thought for a second and said, "Yes." "Good then, that's settles. Now for the second part and again, this is your choice entirely. Do you want to come with this crew and be on my personal staffed ship or do you want to remain with the Asura and captain it on your own with Ferro's crew, who will be reassigned to this ship when we move to the new one. So which will you chose. You have time so you don't need to decide right now but I need it by-," Amy interrupted him mid-sentence. Then she said to him, "I already know. It isn't a hard decision to make. If all my friends are going, then so am I but on one condition." "Condition?" said John, confused. "I still get to call you cap-i-tan." John relaxed, "Okay, but not in public or in front of my wife, ok?" "Ok cap-i-tan sir." She was about to walk out when John said, "Oh yeah, I almost forgot to give you this." He pulled out two envelopes. "One is the invitation to my New General's party and the other is the promotion salary bonus you get for going up a rank. Why not get something for the party." She blushed a little more and left the room.

John went back to his room where everyone was. "Okay all, I think it's about time for us to be heading off. I was just told that we are within the teleport range for this ship. I wish we could just teleport ourselves back home but it is impossible from in any T.S.A.B. vessel and since there is some of us who couldn't yet; I guess this was the only option. Sakura was about to speak when John continued, "And it was impossible to use a portal on Fretica because there were still a good deal of dimensional interference left. It was just that it had dissipated enough for the ships teleport beam to get through. But that's that so I guess it's time to go." They headed for the teleport room where Rodger was. John, knowing he didn't know yet walked up to him. "Congratulations." Rodger looked confused. John continued, "I guess Amy hasn't got a chance to tell you. She chose you to fill her spot so now your Captain Rodger. And to celebrate, here" he handed him two similar envelopes like with Amy, "Ones a promotion bonus and the other is an invitation to my party. This ship or what ever they give you as this one I'm told is done for is yours now. Do some good with it." Rodger didn't know what to say. He always wanted to command his own ship and right her he was being given the chance, "Thank you General Cross sir." He teleported them down on pretty much the exact same spot they started this entire ordeal.

"Okay, we made it. Now wasn't that fun," he said in a mock tone. "Oh yeah, I said that you three," he pointed at Nanoha (with Lance as a ferret), Sakura and Chrono, "would be home almost 30 minutes ago, you better hurry home and remember, if they ask, you were at Lee's cousins house and say you had a good time." Sakura and Chrono knew how punctual their parents were so Sakura grabbed Nanoha's hand and teleported straight behind her houses gate where no one would see while Chrono did the same to his house. "Okay then, lets go back." They walked with the Johnson's as they lived right next door to each other. When they got back to their houses, they said by and went into their respective dwellings. When Lee got into the house (he went in first), his mother almost squeezed him to death in a hug. "Lee, you alright, nothing hurts, you all better, good. When your father called, he said you were in bed from working too hard and I was sooo worried that you'd hurt yourself." "All good mom, see," Lee said to confirm it. They all entered the house when their mother said, "Oh yeah, by the way you two," he looked at Lee and Sarah, "your summer homework arrived in the mail yesterday, there is quite a bit, they needed boxes to send it so you might want to get started, okay." Lee and Sarah looked at the rather large boxes of homework. They both were thinking the same thing, "I think I would rather fight all the Saren stones 5 times over than do this."

Knowing that they would never find enough time to finish it otherwise, they decided to start on their homework with their free time. Sora, who was in college didn't have homework so he decided to take pity on his younger siblings and said that he would help. They both sighed in relief. More Lee than Sarah because Sarah was extremely smart but the sheer volume of the homework was enough to give the smartest person a headache trying to do it all. What Lee liked about Sora was that he was a bit of a perfectionist. As such, when he said he would help you, it really meant that he would do it _for you_ as he was one of those "my way is the best way," type people. And with Sora's help, they got about an eighth of it done by dinner (A HUGE achievement considering how much they had gotten.)

Dinner that night started quiet, they were about to put the plan into action. It was decided that Sarah, whose idea it had been, would say it. She was waiting for her mother to pause for a second because she was the type of person who would probably choke on their food from this type of news. When she paused to put more smashed potatoes on her plate, Sarah started, "You know Mom, something really surprising happened while we were away." Mary looked at Sarah, "Really, what?" "Well, while we were at the training Base, a chain of events happened throughout the T.S.A.B. that Led to the retirement of a general." "Really?" said Mary. "Yes," Sarah continued, "and they already chose daddy as the new General." Mary dropped her fork at this. She got up and gave their father a big hug and a kiss. "Why didn't you say anything, a General, that's big, that's really big. It is big, right?" "Sort of yeah." This continued on for about 5 minutes. Though they had been married for almost 23 years now, they still acted like newlyweds sometimes. Then John said, "Yes, I am now a General and there is going to be a party next Friday in celebration of it. All the General's and their Adjacent's will be there and Council Members and a bunch of important people. And you are most defiantly invited to the party along with the whole family." Their mother then started to say stuff like what she was going to wear and if they should get Lee a new suit and Sarah a new dress and so on and so forth. This continued throughout the whole of dinner.

When dinner ended, Lee went to his room. He decided to get a bit of fresh air and decided to step out onto the deck. The rest of his family was already in their rooms. Then he got a mental call, "_please, do not be frightened_" and a girl with long blond hair tied into two long trails appeared out of no where on the deck with him. Lee recognized her instantly, even though it had been a long time. "Fate Tesstorosa," he said, jumping back and half-released Haruno as a Sword. "What are you doing here?" he said. "Please, I did not come here to fight you," she said. Lee felt the honesty of her words and put away deactivated Haruno, who changed back into a marble. "So what did you come for then, I hope it isn't to ask for the stones because the answer is already no." Fate then said, "don't worry, I couldn't if I wanted to. They can't be given even if you want them too. They are not something you can steal either. I just need to ask you something." Lee kept on feeling more and more relaxed but kept his guard up, "Okay, shoot." "If you do something bad to do something good, is that wrong?" Lee had to think for a bit, "I really don't know the answer to that one. Why did you ask that?" Fate looked at him. Lee could really see quite a bit of sadness in her eyes. Fate then said, "I will tell you this. I am not collecting the Saren stones for myself nor do I know what the person who I am doing it for wants with them. All I know is that I would do anything to make this person happy." Lee thought for a bit longer. Then he said, "Well, I don't think this is the best answer to your question but if I had to give you an answer, it would be that something good shouldn't require you to do something bad first, otherwise, the good deed is sort of canceled out by the bad one, making it like it never happened." "Thanks Lee," said Fate and with that, she disappeared. Lee went back inside and lay on his bed for a while, thinking about what Fate had said. He pondered the answer he had given to her question, wondering if it was the right one.


	22. John's New Toy, Lee goes to Headquarters

The Haruno Chronicles

Ch. 22. Ever want to take a tour of a brand spanking new interstellar/dimensional TSAB proto-type warship. Well, I don't have tickets but I can help you visualize it. This chapter goes into depth about one and Lee may even be able to get behind the wheel of this bad-boy. Turns out unlike cars, there is no age limit on inter-dimensional warships.

Disclaimer: Everything, material, characters, locations ect… are property of the respective people.

Chapter 22 – John's New toy; Lee goes to Headquarters

Lee spent the next two days training his magic skills a little. Though exhausting, Lindy's training had showed him that he was putting too much training into his sword and less into his staff. He wanted to be strong in both areas so he started training his mage skills again. The difference was now; he had his father to help him. Unlike himself, John was an expert with barriers so what he did was he would create a barrier in the sky and its limits would be there arena. It was mid air combat training. Lee didn't need any close combat training or ground training due to his sword mastery but even he could tell that his mid air combat skills could use some fine-tuning. In terms of his powers _level_, he was about as high as most could go but as for his technique and mid air speed, he was if anything, below average. So far, he had been getting by on luck and sheer power alone, but the enemies were getting stronger and those advantages were disappearing. He couldn't rely on them forever so he decided to get serious.

His dad had also taught Lee about casting spells without a staff or incantations. Lee had tried this when Nanoha and Lance originally trained him when he first got his magic but he couldn't do it. Chrono and Sakura had been able to on the other hand. For this lesson, he invited Sora and Sarah as well who also needed to learn said skill. They found that now that they had some experience with magic, it was a lot easier. They all got it pretty quickly and after any an hour, it felt second nature. Sora and Sarah also joined them for bits of time randomly to hone their skills as well. All through this training, He was thinking about his conversation with Fate. He hadn't told anyone about it, and he didn't even know why he was keeping it a secret. Why he was thinking about this, a blast of magic came his way. He narrowly avoided it, diving down. "What's up with you Lee?" asked his Dad, flying towards him. "Nothing," said Lee. "Okay then, then how about we change course. Lets do a different training exercise."

Lee looked at him puzzled. His dad took out two wristbands. "What are those for?" said Lee. "These are your new training weights, so to speak." Lee looked more puzzled now, "But I am already wearing ten of those." John smiled, "Those are physical weights meant to increase physical stats. These are special weights for magic." Lee just looked more confusingly at his dad, so John continued; "I've adapted the training style for Cross swordsmanship so it could help with my magic stats as well. These are wristbands I invented myself to increase my magic's speed and overall performance. What these do is basically put weight on your magic. Or should I say stress your magic output. They don't limit it as much as they slow it down. A good way to explain it is if you think of your magic as a faucet. Lets say right now, you have the faucet fully open and water is coming out normally. Nothing changes, does it? It just keeps coming out at the same rate, never increasing in quantity or speed. Now what happens if you send the same amount of water through a smaller faucet head? The same goes in but less goes out and what happens to the excess? It piles up behind the opening, ever growing in size and quantity. These wristbands are like the smaller faucet head, limiting the amount of magic you can output. Now for the purpose of it all, what would happen it the small faucet head, after holding back all that water returned to a normal size and the faucet was like it was before." Lee was piecing it all together now as he thought of the conclusion. "The water bursts out, now bigger, faster and stronger than ever. And that is what this training is for. These wristbands are nothing but a hindrance now, but when you finally take them off, your power will be stronger and your control speed over it will be faster than ever before. But I must warn you; you can only do this training once for six days max. Like the pipe, if too much water is held up forcibly, then it will inevitably burst and ALL of the water will leak out or in this case, you will lose your ability to use magic indefinitely. But not to worry, I have set these bands to burn themselves to ashes and come off on their own in five days so no need to worry unless you try something stupid. Another thing, if you chose to take them off yourself, then realize at first, like the faucet, your magic will come out uncontrollably for a bit, in this case, only about ten minutes so when the time comes, make sure you are far away from where you can cause damage."

Lee took the wristbands and put them on over his normal training bands. He noticed the difference instantly. For one thing, he instantly de-transformed and started to fall. With a huge amount of effort, he was able to stabilize himself and fly back to where he was, very slowly. "Very hard, isn't it?" Lee then asked, "Why did I release my state automatically?" John replied, "Because you weren't putting enough magic out to support the transformation. Even of you don't realize it, you put out a small amount of magic to maintain your staff and barrier jacket. Right now, you are probably giving off the output of a B to B+ ranked mage. The goal of this exercise is, with those bands on, reach at least an S+ ranking. Those are built to limit any magic beyond that so you will know when your there."

At first, Lee had to struggle just to fly, but within about an hour, he could fly without using up all his focus. But why he was flying, the only thing he could do was make a simple and small ball of magic the size of his fist to shoot at his dad and it took his total concentration. Another thing was that he felt his magic reacting slower than usual. Even his shot speed was slower. It took him an entire three hours to get to the point where he could fly fast enough to avoid his father's attacks. It took him a few more hours after that to finally be able to cast a single real spell while flying. It was only his **GLOWING SHOOTER** but it was powerful enough to get his dad if it made contact. It was still slow however. Seeing this, Lee focused on nothing more for the next few hours than to make his magic draw out quicker and shoot faster.

While he was training, Sarah and Sora asked about the training but John said it was too risky for anyone below SSS and he said it would probably off set the natural magic flux if more than one person did this at a time. He was planning on letting Nanoha try after Lee. By the end of the day, Lee was able to fly normally as when he wasn't transformed, was able to do short range teleportation, heal, and could use **GLOWING SHOOTER** at the same speed as when he wasn't transformed and **BREAK IMPACT** with the same level. He could almost do his **SHINNING BUSTER** but it took too much time at his current magic gathering speed to work. Unlike the other two attacks which were one shot burst attacks where you only needed to make a surge of magic once, a Buster-type attack required you to create a constant Flow of magic and maintain it. In his current state, he couldn't do it fast enough. He also couldn't transform yet either, it just took too much concentration.

They called it a day and his Father said that they were going to take a break the next day. "Why?" said Lee? His father answered, "You spent the last few days constantly training, you need a break and frankly, so do I and I have an errand to run that I want you to accompany me on as well. I invited Sarah and Sora but it seems that they have started to train their magic together and said they were too busy. So we will leave tomorrow morning. Meet in the park at 9 o'clock sharp okay." Lee agreed and went to his room. Wondering about the errand his dad wanted him to help him with.

The next day, Lee ate breakfast in a hurry and ran to the park. He had to use SHUNPO because he was late and still arrived 5 minutes after ten. To his surprise, John was sitting next to Sakura on a bench. John got up and said, "Sakura has agreed to help us. The errand that were going to do is in a different dimension and I am guessing that you still can't teleport that far due to the cuffs so Sakura here said she would make us a portal for you so you can get to where we are going." "I'm glad I can help you in any way," said Sakura. "This will be good experience for you. Our destination is the motherland, Machida; home to the Time-Space Administration Bureau's Headquarters. I have some General things to take care of there and I want you to see it. Think of it as Bring your son to work day." John told Sakura to prepare the portal. She chanted, "0000-0000-0000-0055-8795 Machida main gate, OPEN" In front of Sakura, A magic Circle appeared vertically and in the center, Lee saw a large building. "Lee, lets go," John said, stepping into the portal, soon followed by Lee.

They reappeared in front of the large building they had seen from the other side. Lee could now see that it was in the middle of a wall, which extended as far as the eye could see to each side. John turned to the portal and said to Sakura on the other side, "Thanks Sakura, you don't need to keep it open, were coming back a different way." Sakura nodded and the Portal disappeared into thin air. "Shall we get going?" They entered the building to find that it was much like an airport. There was security checks, scanners ect… Lee thought it was going to take forever when his father motioned to him to follow him. They went up to a door that said "OFFICAL T.S.B.A. mages only. They entered to find another, considerably smaller Security check station. They got into a line with only one person ahead of them. When the guard asked for Name and Rank, John just said "General Cross." The security guard's eyes widened a he realized he was in the presence of a General and then bowed and said, "Sorry for not recognizing you sooner sir. Please go ahead." John said it was all right since he just became a general and walked through. Lee was about to follow when he was stopped by the guard, who then said, "Name and Ranking please." John turned around and said to the guard, "And this here's my son, Lee and unfortunately, he isn't part of the T.S.B.A., at least not yet. The guard made another hasty apology and let Lee through. They continued through the building to a registry desk for Lee. He was signed in and given an I.D. card that said "Special Guest. General Level." John explained that everything for entry into T.S.B.A. headquarters was super-regulated. His card was just for Identification and basically said he was here with a General. If he got into any trouble, he could just show that card and everyone would probably start worshiping him as the son of a General.

They exited the check-in building and came out into a HUGE Complex. It seemed to be as big as Tokyo. When he told his father this he replied, "It's actually a bigger than Tokyo. The T.S.B.A. has so many departments that they need a complex this big to handle it all, not to mention the innumerable number of mages the T.S.B.A. has. Every Mage has a room in one of the dorms here at headquarters so that also takes up a lot of room. John said to grab hold of him, then teleported them both to a huge building with many ships going in and out of it. "Today, my Crew is moving into my new ship, the ARTIMIS. It's a proto-type clean off the belt. This is supposed to be the most modern ship currently in the T.S.A.B. and I get to pilot it. The ASURA is actually one of the oldest models in the entire of Section 5." They entered and John went to the desk to confirm his arrival. The secretary made a call and a few minutes later, a muscular looking man came in.

"So you the new General for section 5 then," he said in a scruffy voice. "Damn right I am," John replied. The man loosened up, "Oh good, you don't seem to be one of them strict, formal, workaholic types. No offense to them, but I can't stand all this formal crap I have to deal with day in and day out. Oh yeah, I'm the chief mechanic for T.S.B.A. headquarters, Allen Watson." John replied, "I know what you mean. I share in your dislike of all things formal. I forbade formality of any-type on my previous ship. It makes me feel all old and such." They laughed and then Allen caught a glimpse of Lee in the back, "And who is this Cross?" "This here's my pride and Joy, Lee." Allen looked at Lee for a second. "So is this supposed to be Mr. Miracle Mage? Looks kind of week if you ask me." "Where did you hear about that?" said John. "Grayson told me when he had your ASURA towed in here. I told him he had to tell me what happened if he wanted me to keep it hush hush and skip the paperwork and so on." "Well then I guess it's alright, just don't tell anyone. This is in fact the SUPER MAGE in questioned who so far has destroyed a battle ship and a base and created a Dimensional Shift just trying to find out his Mage Level." "I like the kid already. Just don't destroy my favorite hanger, okay?" Lee nodded saying that he wouldn't demolish the good man's hanger.

"Okay, about the ship. It turns out that they are putting the finishing touches to it right now and will be ready for you to move in by the time we get there. A note, this thing is brand spanking new, never moved before and the ignition has never been turned on, we left that all for you to do. Thought it would be fun to get a perfectly new ride, you know. If, in the unlikely event you find some minor problem, as this is a proto-type, please tell us so we can fix it. Otherwise, we will never know how to put this baby up for general use. Lets go check it out." John looked excited at the prospect of being the first to turn on the ignition. They left the office and followed Allen through the building. They passed numerous ships either being constructed or fixed. There were teams of workers on each one. There seem to be hundreds of not thousands of workers tinkering with the ships. Most of them were floating in mid-air along with the ships. Allen led them to an elevator and placed his card to the reader for security purposes. "This is a top security lab its in for development so it has top security obviously. They elevator went down a few levels and then stopped. The door then opened and they entered the Lab. In there, there was a huge docking station where a huge ship was. It was 5 times as long as it was tall. It was beige and the front of the ship was two parallel barrel-like sections, which ended in points that were a nice ways apart so there was an empty space in between. There were also four large thrusters in the back. "Wow, what a beauty," said John, admiring his new ship.

Around the ship, there were at least a hundred people doing last minute check-ups to make sure everything was okay. After 5 more minutes, Every one of the work crew staff receded and landed beside the ship and some one came over and said, "Benjamin Dyer, Head of project ARTIMIS, a pleasure to meet you. I am proud to say that we have just finished the final check-up of the ship. She is ready to go." He bowed and left. "That Ben, he always seems to be to busy to talk to. Not the most sociable person here but he is a mad genius when it comes to inter-dimensional anything. He is a big help to have around this joint. Lets give this ship a whirl, shall we?" They walked passed the crew, who bowed to them and entered the ship through a very small service door. Lee was told that the battle ship only had five entrances. One was a service door or a door someone used when no one was on the inside, the second was it's real front door on the left side, which is what most people used, and a ceiling door for quick mage scrambling, and a door on either side if the center of the main body for docking connections; these were the most frequently used doors on the whole ship. The only other way to enter a ship was to be teleported from the inside.

They entered to find everything spotless. Lee felt a little intrusive on this new ship but his Dad said that it was as good as his as long as he was running it and that made him feel more relaxed. Allen showed them around ship, giving them explanations of it's new features ect… It's mage quarters or the rooms where regular crewmembers stayed in were modified, sized up and improved for more comfort. Each one now had a couch; small coffee table and computer station as well, something the ASURA did not. There were now three conference halls plus a private meeting room instead of just one main Hall like the Asura. It also had a separate Simulation room apart from the training room so that you could practice what to do in non-battle situations and other things. There were now two separate training rooms, both bigger than the ASURA's and a larger control room for them. They also had spectator seating (another new thing) so that crewmembers could watch and learn or just to have an exhibition match. The ships scanner system, under John's influence was raised so that it could handle up to a 5 billion power level and that the rooms simulator, combat system and regenerator had all been improved by 200%.

Next were the more important living quarters. John had designed them himself the day he was told he was getting a new ship. It had three special quarters. The first was like a large apartment. It had a living room, two bedroom, bathroom, computer station, living room and kitchen and closets. This was for any special guests that were invited on the ship. The second had a larger living room, office, private study, kitchen, large, luxurious bathroom with large Jacuzzi tub and two bed rooms, one of them was a master bedroom with a large mirror, bathroom connection, large lamp and bedside table complete with a large walk in closet and a computer station. This room was designed for Amy, the Captain-Commander.

The final room was John's and it was the biggest. Allen said, "We followed your diagram exactly to the letter, but I personally don't know why you wanted some of the stuff you asked for." You entered through a rather large office with large desk and big chair and it had a full computer set up, the works. There was a huge Living room the opposite wall, which was at least 100 feet high was a giant window looking out of the side of the ship. There were four couches in a square in the center and in the middle; there was a large coffee table. There was a large TV screen with a row of large chairs in front of it and there was a circle of large armchairs near the window as well. Then, if you went through the door on the right, there was a full kitchen exactly like the one in their house, minus the windows. There was also a large dinning room and 6 bedrooms. One master bedroom with a king sized bed, large TV screen and walk-in closet. Two guest bedrooms with full beds and smaller TV's and a regular closet and dresser. The real surprise was the last three bedrooms. They looked just like the bedrooms Lee, Sarah and Sora had at home, down to the closet design and dressers and everything. "For my family of course," said John. There was also a private study, 3 luxurious bathrooms like Amy's and to Lee's great surprise, a perfect replica of their family dojo, except for the windows. "Got to keep in shape and it just wouldn't feel right without it," said John. Lee was super impressed when Allen said, "One more room to go," he led them to the office where they entered and went to John's nameplate on the desk. He flipped it opened to reveal a button that he pushed. A piece of wall just disappeared to be replaced by a door, which they entered. Inside, it was like a mini control room. It had a master computer with 7 screens, a separate, private teleport bay, and a room with a large screen taking up all of the front wall and a star-ship steering wheel with a touch computer screen beside it. Allen then said, "The private Command center. From here, you can take manual control of the entire ship including the piloting. The screen beside it will give you the other options. It can also be voice controlled if you set it to. This is the Private General Control room, customary on any Private vessel. Hope you like it and with the computer room, you can see any part of the ship. The teleport bay is as good as the main one as well and is linked directly with any device the general registers with the system. Those registered can access this teleporter from the outside without any other equipment." John looked amazed at his little secret base on his own ship. Then said, "I already have a use for this room. Yes, this will be a fine place to hide from Amy when I need a break from paperwork. " He trailed off into more thought. The final part of John's Special Quarters was a second entrance door not from his office. It was actually an automatic portal, which took the form of a door. It could, with a registered device, access and be accessed from anywhere in the ship so the general could move around the ship quickly. With this special portal door to show them the new updated medical bay that was twice as big as the one on the ASURA and was able to support full medical needs like a regular hospital. The new Teleport Bay, which had been expanded, had a new interference guidance system to allow teleportation through very minor dimensional shifts like what Lindy had done.

When Allen had shown them everything else, he said, "Okay, time for the big one." He put his hand on a panel and a large door opened. "This here is her Bridge. If need-be, this room can run anything on the ship down to toilet flushing. There is a collapsing top deck for easier wartime commanding and two barrel cannons. That is one of the true purposes for the two-barrel spoke front of the ship. They are actually MCC's a.k.a. Magic Compression Cannons. Each one is powerful enough to destroy a larger meteor in just one shot. And the last thing I need to tell you is under secrecy level red so be careful who you tell this too. I actually personally would ask that you didn't tell anyone about this. I doubt you will even ever find a chance to use it." John looked a little worried, "So what is this top secret info about my ship?" Lee listened on curiously. Allen said, "If I had a say, I would have thrown away this data along with the parts before they got within spiting distance but the higher ups said it necessary. This is the biggest secret of the ARTIMIS. This is the real reason for the double separated barrel on the front. This ship has a Magical Energy Cannon that has been named **The Light of Artimis**. This cannon is like no other. Below the deck of this ship, there is a Magical Compression Tank about the size of a large truck. Taking into account the amount of power that can be placed in a single Cartridge, or Mage enhancer, imagine one 1000's of times bigger and 2 times as compressed. And there are two of them on board." John wasn't getting it and he said, "So What do these Compression devices used to start the cannon have to do with the Magic Energy Cannon's Danger? Don't all ships have a M.E.C.?" After finishing the sentence, John's eyes opened to realization. "You don't mean to say that the-." "That's right, they're not a power source like on the ASURA. They are the bullets which it fires," finished Allen in a low voice. "And what are the levels of each cartridge?" "As I said, they are about the size of a truck versus something the size of a film cartridge. They said that it was around 2,500 times as big and 2 times as compressed." John looked at his ship, then looked at Allen in fury and yelled, "How can you put something like that on any ship, let alone mine. What if one accidentally went off."

Lee was confused now and so he asked his father, "So what is so bad about these large bullets, doesn't that just give the ship more power?" John looked over at Lee with a look of complete distrust in his new ship, "Lee, I am only going to say this once, it isn't my ideal conversation. Some mages use a Magic enhancer called a Cartridge in their devices for boosts of power. I know what you are thinking, that isn't their real power in all but your wrong, and a normal cartridge is just a different form of their own power, like an attack, that a mage uses. The 'bullets' so to speak are like cartridges and their device is this Cannon. One is 2,500 times as large and 10 times as compressed. Since a normal cartridge contains a 5 million-power boost, multiply the compression makes each unit worth 10 million times 2500 times the mass along with the depression rate of the attack for being compressed and suddenly, released, it would equal about a 250 billion-power level when all is set and done. That is more than 100 times that of your strongest attack. It is one of the only three things that can reach the Ultimate Z rank. It is enough to wipe out around 100 different worlds if fired incorrectly and they expect me to keep it on my ship." Lee came to reality as he thought about what this cannon really was. "Of course, If fired correctly, It would only cause a minor Dimensional Shift."

In an effort to cheer John up, he said, "Well, if it is of any consolation too you, as there was only myself and the Crew chief who knew about this cannon and worked on it, I did a little tinkering to hopefully put you mind at ease. 1st, I hade a 10th level seal placed on each Cartridge so until that is removed, those chunks of metals can't do nothing, even if the ship explodes and the second is that unlike the original plan, I altered it's firing mechanism. It is set so that only you can fire it, absolutely no one else can. I have made that change irreversible. It will need this key," he handed John a case with a silver key in it, "to both break the seals on the ammo and fire the cannon." He waved his hand over the captain's chair and two keyholes appeared. "These are the three locks. The first one releases the seal on the first shot and the other one releases the second shot. After both have been unlocked," he tapped them both," a third key hole will appear," a third, red keyhole appeared over the first two in mid-air. "This is the final step. If you insert that key into that lock and turn it to the left, the cannon will fire BUT if you turn it to the right, the entire ship will self-destruct using the two cartridges as bombs. I will leave what to do with this key up to you." All the locks disappeared into thin air again.

John looked at Allen for a second, and then he said, "Thanks, that makes me feel better again. Now I can freely love this ship again." Allen was relieved to hear his work was appreciated. "Okay John, start her up. If you set the ship to 'A' level command, you can control everything from the captains chair." John walked over to his Captain chair. When he sat down, a screen appeared and said, "Ship owners device, RAGING FURY detected, main computers, booting, systems starting, going into immediate standby, waiting for further instructions." A bunch of intangible screens appeared in front of John; each one confirming different aspects of the ships different stats and conditions. Also, all of the screens at the different stations turned on and the different lights started flashing. After a minute, the ships computer said, "All systems are green, engines are at standby, ready for launch." Another screen labeled "Docking Controls" appeared in front of John. He then spoke into the panel and it could be heard through the speakers on the outside of the ship, "This is General Cross in private Battle-Ship, the ARTIMIS going on free lance test-flight 001." Small hover engines under the ship started up and the ship started to hover. He then pressed a button on the panel labeled "open gate." The hanger gate opened in front of them. 2 small engines in the middle of the 4 main ones started up. "Primary engines are all green," said the ships computer. "Release all docking measures. Ready." Lee and Allen got into two of the crewmembers seats. "GO!!!" He slammed a green button on his chairs armrest. The ship started moving forward at a steady speed. It was out of the gate. "Activating A level controls." A plane-like steering wheel came out of the floor along with a panel with breaks; throttle lever and a bunch of other stuff. John took the wheel and pulled back to make the ship rise, still parallel to the ground. When it was clear of the city limits, John stopped the ship in mid-air." "Activating main engines," the 4 large engines started up. After a minute, the ship said, "main engines are ready." John said, "Okay, brace yourselves." He pressed a blue button on the armrest. All the displays disappeared. "Main controls online."

John shoved the throttle up to ¾ of the max. The ship shot forward into space. They were speeding through space at high speeds. Lee was observing the different planets as they passed them. After a few minutes, Allen said, "Good, pre-dimensional systems all check good. Now we just need to test that and were all good." John already knew and he pressed a big red button on the panel. "Okay, Dimensional-drive, fully functioning." On the outside of the ship, it was glowing. "Good, 10 seconds to dimensional warp." A large white circle appeared in front of the ship. "9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, _GO!!!_" The ship shot through the white circle and for a minute, it felt like they were going at light speed. Then, they entered what Lee remembered as Dimensional space. "Dimensional drive is all green," said Allen, "That's it for all the tests. We can head back now."

John then said, "Just a minute, I have one more thing I want to do." He looked at Lee, "Come over here Lee." Lee walked over. To his surprise, his dad got out of his chair and said, "We Generals don't usually drive, you take the wheel. Besides, I want to register you in the system anyway." Lee looked shocked but his dad said, " Once registered, you will automatically be able to pilot this ship." Lee sat hesitantly in the Chair and a screen labeled "registration" appeared. Then the ship's computer said, "unidentified user. System lock." The ship stopped moving and the computers turned off. Then John said, "Administration panel." A screen appeared before him. He entered a password, and then pressed a button on it and the ship started moving again. Then the screen in front of Lee changed and the computer said, "New Pilot registered, please enter I.D." Lee entered his name and then the screen disappeared. Now the computer said, "Administrator, please input security level, password and rank for New Pilot Lee Cross." John thought for a moment, and then said as he pressed the buttons, "Rank, General Guest/ Associate. Security clearance and level, General rank Administrator, Password-," he paused and a small screen just big enough for his hand appeared in front of him. "Lee, place your hand on the screen." Lee did so and the screen lit up for a bit. Then the computer said, "Confirmed signature of General rank pilot Lee Cross. Now finalized into the System, Welcome." Everything went back to normal and a Card appeared in front of Lee that his dad said was his I.D. and security clearance for the ship. Basically, it was a sort of key to the ship. John then said, "Now you can do anything I can with this ship. I entered you as a top Level Administrator able to do anything except supersede me. Basically, you are logged with my privileges and ranking on this ship." "Cool," replied Lee. Lee suddenly had a ton of info go into his brain for a second. After that, he looked at the controls and realized that he knew exactly what to do. He grabbed the wheel and turned the ship 180 degrees and started heading back.

He drove it back through the dimensional gate and back into Machida Space. He then flew the ship back into the hanger and docked it as well. Then he got up and said, "That was fun, thanks Dad." "I'm just glad that I could give you a fun time. Lets get off this ship now, shall we." Lee and John started for the exit. Allen had to stay on board to collect the data from the computer. Lee and John used the Main docking entrance to exit the ship this time. When they got off and back the hanger on the outside of the ship, John's Crew greeted them. Then a perky girl ran over and said, "All members here and accounted for Cap-i-tan sir." John replied, "And good to see you too Amy. This is our new ship and may I be the first to say it is impressive. You all will like your accommodations better too.

After John greeted his crew, he told them that they were to move in and were to each log themselves into the system. He then asked Amy and the new lieutenant to come with him for pilot registration with the ships computer. John asked Lee to go onto the ASURA, which was now parked beside the ARTIMIS, and collect all his stuff and put it in his room. And so Lee entered the ASURA and gathered all his Dad's stuff. He carried it all in one load by moving it all with his magic. He then wondered how he was going to get through the entire of the new ship with all this crud when he remembered that his dad had made him as good as an administrator. He then took out Haruno and said, "Can you patch me into Dad's private teleport bay?" Haruno replied, "accessing, one moment please." He waited and then a white circle appeared under him and all the stuff he was bringing. Haruno then said, "Activating teleport." He was teleported into his dad's private control room. He then hovered all the stuff from the control room into his Dad's office and then to the living room. He then set it down. He then ran back to the office and closed the secret entrance to the private control room like his dad said he should do when he exited it. He then started placing his dad's stuff where it said to on each box. Lee though this was the real reason that he was asked to come along. While he was moving stuff to his Dad's bedroom, he noticed that except for his Dad's room, there were empty nameplates on Lee, Sarah's and Sora's rooms. He decided to fix that and took the metal plates down. He then made a very thin beam of magic come out of his pointer, kind of like a laser and wrote all their names down on each one. He then placed the plates on their respective room doors and continued to unpack.

It took him the better part of 3 hours to unpack it all but he finished around two. He was told that they were still serving lunch down in the cafeteria so he decided to get something to eat. To speed things up, he used the special portal door that was made for his Dad to use and connected it to the Cafeteria. He told himself to thank his dad later for giving him full access on the ship. He came out of a door in the cafeteria and got a bite to eat. He met up with Amy and they decided to eat together. Amy started a conversation by saying, "So what do you think of this new ship?" Lee replied, "I wouldn't know what to compare it too but to me, it looks awesome. Have you seen your room yet?" Amy replied, "No, I was just about to head there after I finished eating. I have been swamped with work because I just became a Commander. It is a lot of Paper work and desk stuff that makes you feel sick to your stomach. I think I finally understand some of your father's pain. Lee told her about the other aspects of the ship that she didn't know about yet but as his father asked, he didn't mention something's like the private control room or **The** **Light of ARTIMIS**. After lunch, Lee used the Portal door to get them right outside of Amy's room. The door disappeared behind them. When Amy entered her new room, she was ecstatic. It was so much bigger than her one on the Asura. That room was just that, a large room and separate bathroom with just a shower, toilet and sink. This one had 5 rooms plus a luxury bathroom. She started moving her stuff in right away. Lee helped her a little and she got moved in just an hour.

Around 4, Lee heard an announcement by his dad, "We will be launching in 40 minutes, please prepare for the ARTIMIS's first official departure. Thank you." Everyone started to get ready for launch. People were running around the ship, trying to get to their stations. Lee got a message from his dad to go to the bridge. He went to the Bridge quickly to find his father there. "Ah good Lee, you're here. I thought it would be a good moral booster if you piloted the ship." Lee agreed to, even though he was nervous. He got into the chair and his dad showed him what each of the screens was for and what to look for on them. He learned it pretty quickly. After everyone entered his or her station, Lee started the pre-flight sequence like his dad had said to. He found it relatively easy to do them. He undocked the connection platform and detached the fueling cable and all the connections. Then he started the ship up. A crewmember was confirming everything out loud, "Hover system all good, preliminary engines ready. Were good to go at any time Captain Cross." Lee was taken aback at being called Captain Cross. He hit the green button and launched the ARTIMIS out of the gate. He then made the ship rise until it was out of city sky limits. Then he said, "Preparing to fire main engines." A crewmember confirmed, "Starting main engines. Power output at 100%. There in the green." Lee replied, "good, starting acceleration." He put the throttle up at three-quarters and the ship left Machida's Atmosphere. "Activating Dimensional Drive," they activated the dimensional drive and placed the ship inside Dimensional space. After he was done, his father came over and said, "Nice job Lee, well done. You should consider joining the T.S.B.A. when you get older. I am prepared to bet that the council is already plotting someway of getting you to join. It's what they did to me. Now that were cruising, why don't you let Amy take over? It looks like she is itching to get into that chair." Lee relinquished control of the ship to Amy who started looking at all the new features.

John lead Lee to the larger training room and set it to aerial combat simulator. The new ships simulator was much more advanced than the ASURA's. This one actually altered the space in the room to match the simulation unlike the ASURA, which just did a hologram. Now it would feel like they were in the air. They could also fly as far as they wanted in any direction and not hit the room's wall. They entered and Lee resumed his training with the magic weights. He realized that just by using little bits of magic throughout the day, he had improved greatly. He was able to shoot **GLOWING SHOOTER **at full speeds and was finally able to erect a shield, which would enable him to charge in with a defense. He was still unable to use **SHINNING BUSTER** but his flight speed was regular again and he was able to use **HYPER BURST**, though it took a while to create, as it still needed an incantation. John said there were a few attacks that were not possible without an incantation. They trained for about 2 hours while waiting for the ship to go into the Earth's Dimensional Space.

When they arrived, they took the teleported down from the ship through the main teleport bay and ended up where they had started. They headed home as it was around dinnertime and decided to call it a day. Lee was supposed to be using today as a resting day but they ended up training out of boredom anyway. When they got home, dinner was just being put on the table. Mary walked over to them and said, "Oh good, your home. I was worried you were going to be late for dinner." John replied, "Me, late for your dinner. Nothing in any universe could keep me from any of your home-cooking." They sat down to eat. In the middle of dinner, Sarah asked Lee, "So what was the errand you did with Dad?" "We just went to pick up Dad's new ship. He really likes it. He even let me drive it a bit but the real reason he wanted me along was to move his stuff from the old ship to the new one for him." Sora entered the conversation, "Why does Lee, who doesn't even have a drivers license yet get to drive an Inter-dimensional warship before me?" John replied, "Because he was the only one who came obviously." They all laughed at this. Lee stayed up for a little bit, then went for bed, preparing for the training ahead.


	23. The Party

The Haruno Chronicles

Ch. 23 This chapter has it all. Party dresses, Party guests, party dances, party announcements and even a Party Crasher, Literally as it comes through the roof. Now Lee gets to show off in front of the entire Time-Space Administration Bureau. And he doesn't Leave empty handed either.

Disclaimer: Everything, material, characters, locations ect… are property of the respective people.

Chapter 23 – The Party

Lee had continued his training the day after he went with his dad to get the new ship he got for being promoted to a General. After starting the training again, he realized that his magic had once again gotten faster. He was now able to use his **SHINNING BUSTER** and it went at regular speeds. He was also finally able to transform and his magic was normal but his air maneuverability and speed were severely lacking and he couldn't transform the staff to the other modes yet. Also, he couldn't do **PURE LIGHT BREAKER. **His dad said that he would be able to achieve it once he was at the passing level. He worked hard that day and at the end, he was able to maneuver normally but he was still quite slow. He also learned a new attack called **FLASH SHIFT.** It was similar to Sarah's **PIERCING LIGHTS **except that instead of exploding, after contact, he found out that they homed in on the target and turned and flew at them, even if they changed positions, like a heat seeker. Right now, he could only make five of them. He could also alter their path manually if he concentrated. Doing so made them go twice as fast and each one was as powerful as a single glowing shooter. They also had one more special characteristic. He didn't have to fire them out of his hand when he was transformed. Instead, he could fire them from anywhere within 50 meters of his position. This proved useful for getting behind-the-back shots on his dad. This forced him to get serious and he finally transformed. Lee had never forced him that far in training before.

The next day, Lee improved again. He was able to regain almost half his speed in the air and as a result, his attacks speed was doubled as well. Also, each of their power kept growing a little over night. He was now able to move fast enough to make his dad start trying. He now was firing continuously. Lee with his new boost was able to make auras and fields now so he was prepared. He also was able to use the other two modes of his staff now that he had improved a bit more. He mainly used his MSD (Mass Sword Driver) to make up for his lack of speed. This mode, though it didn't have any special spells increased all the users stats, especially speed and the sword gained a few abilities like being able to throw the slice attack through thin air for farther range. Lee's speed was now that of his normal max flight sped for his normal transformation. With this, he was finally able to go on pure offense. This threw his dad for a loop as Lee started throwing a barrage of flying slashes at him, then coming in for an attack from behind. His dad compensated by using an attack called **RAGING JUDGEMENT.** This attack created hundreds of small dart like bits of magic. He could fire them all in one directions or split them off in different directions. He could also combine individual ones to make them stronger. This kept Lee at bay, as he couldn't get close to his dad. Also, his slashes were being canceled by the attack. To make the grounds equal again, he changed his staff to SHOOTING MODE. He lost his speed but gained his distance. He used **GLOWING SHOOTER, Rapid Fire Style** to shoot down each of the smaller attacks. He found that with this new training, he was able to control each shot with concentration but he couldn't control more than about 15 of them at a time. Sakura could control any number, even a hundred with her concentration. Each of his blasts, though smaller in number, were 5 times as powerful as the hundreds of small spikes they hit so they could take out a good number of them before being destroyed. They had to end this session early as they were going over to Sakura's house for dinner. If they only came to them and they never went to the other's houses, it would look suspicious or rude.

The next day, his dad changed the training a bit. Lee couldn't transform could only attack from far range with either **SHINNING BUSTER, HYPER BURST, **or **FLASH SHIFT.** No other attacks could be used. Also, he had to have an aura on at all times and could only use **ROUND SHIELD** for defense. He said that with these limitations, he would be forced to improve magic quantity and speed in order to win or survive for that matter. They started off. It took Lee the first half of the day to get the routine down. He realized that with the concentration and magic spent on maintaining his **GOLDEN ARMOR **aura, his attacks all became slower to fire. He also realized that his flying speed though, unlike his attacks, didn't suffer. If anything, it increased. He was trying to use **HYPER BURST,** easily the strongest of the attacks he was allowed to use but he had to time it perfectly as he still needed to say the incantation. But it was worth it as for the one time he succeeded, he was able to penetrate his dads shield with sheer power and get a nice hit on him. He fired off many smaller attacks as well to throw him off guard right after he recovered. They trained until dinner that day and then some afterwards. At night, John taught Lee a new trick he made based off SHIN to clearly sense magic power levels and location without sight. Any mage could do it normally but not to such a degree of detail. They would just be able to get a general reading of the power relative to their own and a general direction, nothing was specific enough to be of much use. Most had to rely on a scanner for such accurate information. But with this new way John had invented, you could tell where specific magical signatures were. Without a scanner, most mages couldn't tell the differences in magic signatures between mages. It was like magic DNA. With this new method; you could pretty much sense exactly where it was, who it was, and what it was doing. The image you got with this one was specific enough to tell body shape. It was kind of like a second set of eyes and ears. For the night training, he was completely blindfolded so he could only rely on this new skill. He got the hang of it surprisingly quickly. By the end, he had forgot that he was even blindfolded. He was also taught he could use this technique with a small pulse of magic you released to create a clear picture of your surroundings with your mind. He walked into the house with the blindfold on by accident and his dad had to come and remind him to take it off.

Then the last day of the training. It was only going to be a half-day of training because they were going to John's Promotion party that night. Sakura and Chrono, who John had invited, were going to drive them all there in Sakura's family limo, which was big enough for them all. During the last day of training, it was just a full out battle where the objective was to fire his **PURE LIGHT BREAKER**. He now had his full speed back and his power was mostly back. He decided to fire his regular breaker instead of the new one to make it easier. They fought for 2 and a half hours when Lee saw an opening at last. He started up the charging for the attack. He was preparing to launch it when his Dad said to stop. Lee stopped the charge and flew over to his Dad. It turned out that they were out of time because they needed to get ready. Lee was worried that he had not completed the training when his dad said to him, "It's alright Lee. To be honest, you reached SS sometime yesterday morning without realizing it. The reason I didn't tell you were so you would continue to train hard. That was actually the reason why I limited what attacks you could use yesterday. Now I would say, with the restraints, you are already a SS+. You could probably easily fire your breaker so don't feel bad." Lee was about to take off the sweatbands when John suddenly stopped him. "Remember, Unless they come off themselves, your power will explode out, destroying the nearby area.

Lee felt a little bit better as he went inside. He went inside and prepared to go. He put on the new tuxedo his mother had bought for him. It was a perfect fit; Lee thought it was going to be too small as his mom hadn't bought him clothes in years and she would have messed up. But, as usual, she was perfect. Sora also had a new tux and Sarah a new white dress. Sakura and Chrono, along with Nanoha and Lance (human form) came to pick them up at quarter to and were both dressed adequately. They got in the Limo and the driver, Sakura's personal maid Suzuki, started to drive. It took them the better part of 45 minutes to get to the restaurant. John explained to them in the car what would happen. First was the welcoming which you just sat down at a table for, he would go back stage. Then, the ceremony, which will be magically broadcasted throughout all of the T.S.A.B., would start. John would be changed into his new General's Uniform for the ceremony. After the ceremony, the real party would start and people would converse and he would ask questions ect… The party officially ended at 11. They all walked to the front of the restaurant. On the door, it said "Reserved for Magicians Association." John laughed when he read it.

They walked through the door and showed their invites and I.D. to the reservation desk. The person behind the desk introduced himself as a Bureau member. They continued in and inside, they found the hall filled with people. Some of them, which John pointed out as the other Generals were in their formal Bureau Uniforms like John's. John split off with them and headed to the stage entrance. The rest of them looked for a table reserved for them. It ended up being in the dead center front. They sat down and the lights dimmed. Then an Elderly looking man stepped out and introduced himself as Senior Council Member Edwin Aster. The entire of the Ceremony only took about an hour. After a speech by the Council Member, John was brought up on stage and he made a small speech full of how it came to be blah blah blah. Then the Council Member reappeared and officially announced him as "GENERAL CROSS." He then presented John with the General's Badge and official I.D. that he put on his uniform. Then everyone applauded and Mary ran on stage and kissed him in front of everyone. There was more applause, but now the Cross children were trying to fade away from embarrassment, except for Sora who whistled and said, "Give him another for good Luck."

The Lights came back on and the Party really got started. His dad came over and asked Lee to come with him. Sora and Sarah were already in a rapid conversation with General Lindy who they had just spotted. Then Sakura and Chrono found Grayson who asked them to come, as he wanted to introduce them as Earth Mages to some people and Nanoha and Lance, who were already famous for their previous feats were being surrounded by others curious about the event. John walked with Lee over to the Council Member that had done the Ceremony. He introduced himself and Lee replied, "I'm John's middle son, Lee Cross, pleased to meet you." Edwin said, "Likewise. I hear from many people that you are already quite the mage, though you still seem so young." Lee didn't know what to say so John intervened, "Yes, he will undoubtedly surpass even me in a few years. Possibly even before 20. He is already around my Level, a SSS+ mage. He can even use combination attacks." Edwin's eyes lit up, "Ah, those. It's good to hear of other mages with that ability. I am privileged to say that I too share in that rare ability to combine different mages attacks. It is how I got to where I am now. Don't waste this gift." Lee then said, "Well, I've only done it once, and I haven't tried since then because of what happened." Lee told the story of his double breaker attack accidentally causing a Dimensional Shift. After he was done, Edwin then said, "Alas, it just proves that the bigger the effects, the bigger the risks. I once too, accidentally caused such an accident on my home world when I was trying to do a combination attack. Yes, I succeeded in creating an all-powerful attack, but I also caused a Dimensional Shift spreading across 4 planets for over a week. I got in a lot of trouble for that."

Lee and the council member continued to talk while without their noticing; John slipped away and accidentally bumped into his own wife. She was looking for him so they could dance. He eagerly went with her. The rest of the party went pretty fast; at least, until something came flying through the roof. What emerged was a normal person except that his eyes was pitch black and he had a black aura around him. Immediately, a specialist team there for security set up a barrier around the building. All the Generals stepped forward to fight it. Then the man spoke in a sort of robotic voice, "I am Saren stone, serial number 18. For defying us, you shall be punished." The man's aura grew larger as it prepared for battle. All the Generals were preparing for battle when Edwin stepped up and said, "I have an idea. As we are all curious to see, why not let the new general's prodigy son fight. It is after all, in John's jurisdiction." John looked at Lee, mentally telling him that it was his decision. Lee didn't even need to think. He transformed immediately and said, "All right then, I accept. As a favor, could you spread the barrier across the entire city, this could get a bit messy." Edwin motioned to the barrier squad and with the help of Jackson (he's a master of defensive magic) and Lance, they were able to up-size the barrier while keeping its original strength.

Lee flew up and the manifested Man did the same. He launched the first attack by launching a barrage of small black shots out of his hand. Lee countered with a rapid fire of his **GLOWING SHOOTER**. He then followed up with his new attack **FLASH SHIFT**. He made them shoot from behind the Man to catch him off guard. Unfortunately, he dodged instantly and decided to take it close range by summoning a large sword. Lee countered by also changing to close combat by making his staff a sword. He sent some slashes through the air to make him avoid by going up. Then Lee sped towards where he intended him to go and delivered a direct shot to it's head, which sent it on a flying gold slash to the ground, where it made a big crater, cut in half by the slash along with the body of the Man. It soon regenerated and stood back up.

It flew back up to where Lee was. Lee decided to make this a sky battle and flew high into the air. The man did the same. Then, the man launched a powerful ray of Black Magic at Lee, which he countered with his **SHINNING BUSTER.** Now that his staff was in SHOOTING MODE, he decided to make this a quick ending. He situated himself in the air. Then a large Magic Circle appeared. He pointed his staff at the man and three spell ribbon rings appeared. In the middle, a large sphere of Magical Energy appeared. After it was done charging, it all gathered into the staff. He aimed it and another large magic circle appeared on the front of his staff. "**PURE LIGHT **_**BREAKER!!!**_" Lee shot the massive attack at the man who to Lee's surprise shot an attack of the same level in an instant. They collided in mid-air. Lee and the Man then got into a battle of Breakers as Lee fired off breaker after another and the Man did the same. Thanks to experience, he could fire off his regular breaker many, many times without getting too tired.

The rest of the partygoers watched on with amazement and excitement. What they were seeing before them was a great and marvelous battle. It was on par with their abilities. The one however, who was watching with the most interest, was the senior council Member, Edwin Aster. He was most interested in Lee, looking at his amazing progress. Lee's friends and family on the other hand, were starting to worry. One of Lee's strongest attacks wasn't working at all. If anything, it was slightly weaker. The only one in that group who wasn't worried was John, who new it was almost time for those things to come off and then they would all be surprised. The other General's were getting anxious. They kept asking Mr. Aster if they could help, saying that Lee, even though he was impressive, would need some help. Edwin turned them all down saying that they should just keep watching. They did so and to them, it was just looking at the same thing over and over again.

The countless Breaker attacks were starting to have a toll. He was getting more and more tired. He could also feel his magic decreasing in quantity and power. He was slowing down a lot too. He kept firing his **PURE LIGHT BREAKER**, only to be countered by the man's breaker style attack. He decided it was time to stop holding back. He regained himself once again. He leveled himself and started to gather magic up. A super large golden Magic circle, larger than before, appeared under him. Three spell rings appeared in front of his staff. Then, a large Sphere of golden magical energy appeared in the middle of the spell rings. The spell rings were assorted with the smallest nearest the staff and the biggest at the end. He aimed the sphere at the man. "**PURE LIGHT BREAKER,** **Second Variation.**" The sphere of magical energy began to shine brightly. "_**FIRE!!!**_" a large wave of magical energy, much larger than the others fired with the sphere gathered before hand as the head of it. It shot at super sonic speeds towards the man. He did something totally unexpected. He just stood there and let the attack hit him. There was a large explosion where it collided. Through the thick smoke, nothing was visible but Lee, somehow could feel no difference in anything. The skyscrapers, which the attack had past, were blown away.

Lee, or anyone on the ground for that matter, couldn't believe their eyes. When the smoke cleared, the man was still there, clearly unharmed in any way what so ever. Lee was about to give up all hope. The man just laughed and then started to gather up the largest mass of magic lee had ever seen. It created a gust just from the very minor pulses of magic coming off it. Lee knew he couldn't defend against the attack. He was out of options. He just stood there. Then the man fired the attack straight at the ground. A split second before it was about to hit, Lee heard a voice, "Magic strain devices at maximum time limit. Releasing restraints."

Everyone saw the attack hit Lee. Everyone looked shocked at the explosion that followed. The generals looked on in self-pity as they thought it was their fault for not going in. Edwin was cursing himself, as the entire battle was his idea. All of Lee's friends were shocked beyond words as they gazed helplessly at the sight of the explosion, still covered with smoke. Mary was crying herself out of her mind. Everyone at the party looked with mixed feelings. Though none of them wanted to admit it, most of the general's wouldn't have been able to survive that head on. The only one who wasn't worried in the least was John. In fact, he was smiling.

Suddenly, everyone felt a huge surge of power come from the middle of the explosion area. It was enormous, much more than the attack just fired. No one knew where the power was coming from. It was much larger than the powers of the two combatants. Then, a huge gust from the smokes center blew it all away. In the middle of a huge crater, floating in the air right was he was standing before the attack, was Lee. He was glowing with an intensely bright golden aura. The gravity of the area seemed to triple under the power that was leaking out. John had an Idea of what was going to happen and ran to Edwin and said, "Tell headquarters to put up a dimensional level barrier around this dimension NOW! No time to waste." Edwin relayed the message through his device to headquarters that immediately dispatched a special squad half way through his sentence. Suddenly, Lee's power started to skyrocket. He was summoning all the power he could for the next attack. He just kept going up. The entire planet seemed to start shaking. The ground was exploding randomly making craters, Chunks of rock were rising and exploding. A tornado was surrounding Lee. Then Lee pointed his staff up. Three giant spell ribbons appeared above the staff. A large sphere of golden Magical energy appeared in the center. Then, another sphere of really dark gold with a sort of red aura appeared beside the first one, equal in power and size. Then Lee started chanting, "_The power of that which governs all things, with your blinding authority, lend me your strength to pass judgment on this day."_ The two spheres combined to create a super large sphere of brightly glowing golden energy with a red glowing aura around it, kind of like a fireball. "**PURE LIGHT BREAKER and RAGING JUDGEMENT FINAL COMBINATION ATTACK."** Four large golden red magic circles appeared in a square formation above the man. "**Final Judgment, ****TRIAL OF LIGHT!!!!!!!"** All four of the floating magic circles shot down a giant wave of golden Magical energy with a flaming red aura, surrounding the man. Then, they all moved towards the center above the man. Then they all fused together and created a HUGE explosion. It encompassed almost half the city. To save the barrier, Jackson had to open part of it to let the power go through. It would have been destroyed for sure if he didn't.

The other general's had to put up a barrier to protect everyone from the shockwaves of the blast. Then a huge smoke cloud appeared from the explosion. It took a while to dissipate. When it did, an incredible and almost scary sight was before them. Everything within eyesight was totally obliterated to dust. The area was completely barren. Nothing was left, even the buildings. John flew up to take in the damage sight. He was shocked at what he saw. The smaller half of Tokyo looked like it was completely erased from existence. Nothing remained there, even the buildings on the outskirts of the explosion radius that survived where either crumbling or severely damaged. There was a huge crater in the middle of the disaster zone, at least 2 kilometers in diameter. Lee's family and friend's went looking for Lee. About five minutes later, Lee finally climbed out of the crater. Suddenly, a Saren stone flew up from the ground in the center of the crater. It floated in the air for a bit. Haruno, automatically changed into it's sealing mode. Then Haruno said, "Sealing, Saren stone number 18. Seal." A small ray of golden energy hit the Saren stone and it floated over and Haruno absorbed it.

Lee's family and friends finally found Lee. They saw him with his staff out at the edge of the crater. They all rushed over, glad to see he was okay. When they got there, they started congratulating him and comforting him and asking if he was all right when John looked more closely at Lee. "Everyone, hold the compliments, Lee can't hear you, he's fainted on his feet." Everyone looked at Lee's face more carefully and each of them realized that Lee was unconscious; the only thing holding him up was probably pure determination. "That's what I call willpower," said John. He picked up his son to carry him back. Lee was still clutching his staff so tightly; they couldn't get his unconscious hand to let go so Chrono ended up having to keep it lifted so that it didn't get dragged on the ground. Another sign of Lee's determination was that even though his body had give in already, he was still maintaining his staff and barrier jacket. Normally, they would have automatically changed back by now. This actually relieved John because it told him that his son was all right, just exhausted beyond imagination.

They arrived back at what was the restaurant, now was destroyed where all the people were, wondering what had happened. When they got there, they placed Lee on the ground. Along with Sakura, Sarah and Lance, a General named Joana Berets, also known as the Angel of Healing for her exceptional talents in the medical field went to help heal Lee. To Joana's surprise, there was absolutely no damage to the liker core. In fact, except for being unconscious and having battle injuries all over his body, he was perfectly fine. They healed the minor injuries first. Then they proceeded to replenish his some of his 100% empty magic supply. They could only replenish about a third due to his extremely high magical capacity. That third was about as much as two to three regular AAA class mages. They didn't have enough magic available to do more than that without personal consequence.

Lee woke up about 20 minutes later feeling a bit tired but on a whole, was feeling pretty good. When he woke up, he saw everyone above him, looking at him with mixed expressions. Some where of sadness, some of relief and some of pure amazement. He stood up and looked around. "So how bad is the damage this time?" asked Lee, looking around at the barren desert-like landscape. Edwin came over to lee and replied, "Don't worry, what you see is the worst of it. Luckily, your father saw this coming ahead of time and had the T.S.A.B. erect a dimensional barrier to prevent a Dimensional Shift. We can repair the city in no time so don't worry, everything will be fine." Lee looked relieved at this. After her gained his composure, he was engulfed in a crowd of people. They were all impressed with his battle, including the generals. Another council member even asked him if he wanted to join the T.S.A.B. but Lee turned him down saying that he was too young.

After much Fuss, John reminded them why they were there and what needed to be done. Lance volunteered to fix the city, He asked John for some assistance. He would chant and John would supply most the magic. They moved a but away from the crowed to give themselves some room to work. Suddenly, a Green magic circle appeared below them and a gold one above them. Then Lance started the spell, "_Catastrophes mark now be gone, erase all traces of your destruction__**, MAGICAL RESTORATION**__"_ A giant flash of light pulsed out from the center of the magic circles. It spread all over the city and the surrounding areas. Wherever it passed, the area became as good as new, even if the damage hadn't been from the battle. Everyone looked impressed at the level of the restoration. It was as good as any of the bureau's emergency restoration squads. After all getting back into position, the barrier squad, now exhausted, finally released the barrier returning everything to normal.

The party continued for a bit but it was now Lee who was the center of attention, not his father who the party was intended for. After a while though, the focus of the party shifted over to John again, who was actually relieved for the time he was not being swamped by people. When he was given a free moment, Edwin Aster came over and said, "You did a fine job boy, a fine job indeed. You should really consider joining the Time-Space Administration Bureau. I don't mean right now though; you have your youth and education ahead of you but maybe in a few years when you are done with that and looking for a career. I con already guarantee you that you would easily make it to a General rank, possibly even higher." Lee looked a little embarrassed but said, "I'll think about it. It is already an idea I had for my future. I would like to do something meaningful with my life, you know." Edwin replied, "Just the attitude you need to be a good mage. The T.S.A.B., though it is a Bureaucracy, it's main objective is for the wellbeing of all things. There is a never-ending shortage of good talent needed. I like your way of thinking so I am going to give you a few bits of advice. The first is to be wary of power, as it can lead one astray. Don't use it meaninglessly. The second bit of advice I have is more practical. According to what you said earlier, you don't know how to do COMBINATION ATTACKS at will, am I correct." Lee nodded. "I thought so. Well it turns out that I, as another user have done some extensive research on the matter and figured out most of its key points." He took out an electronic tablet and handed it to Lee. "This here contains my research. It includes methods on how to use a combination attack; techniques for controlling the attacks and even choosing whom you borrow an attack from. Mind you, that only works if you already know the person and the attack. It even has directions on how to limit their power. The only other person I ever gave this info too has benefited a lot from it. Those capable of using COMBINATION are very rare. Only about 1 in every 1 million mages has the ability to and the amount who are actually able to use them are fewer still. As far as I know, in the entire of the T.S.A.B. I think there is only about 40 people registered to be able to use them and all, without exception, are SSS or higher mages. It is actually the majority of these mages that usually reached the 'Z' Mage Level. There is only some exceptions. There was a special elites member who quit the bureau 10 years ago who, even though was unable to do a combination, was a Z ranked mage. He actually was better then almost all the other Z members, recorded as the 3rd strongest guy to ever join the T.S.A.B. since it's creation."

Lee looked at the tablet, "Thank you, I am sure this will help a lot." Another General then engaged Edwin in conversation and Lee walked away. While trying to locate his father to go, he bumped into a young looking mage. He was probably only around Lee's age. "Sorry," said Lee. Lee noticed that he was wearing a T.S.A.B. uniform but it was different from any of the ones he had seen. Lee asked, "So are you in some T.S.A.B. training camp or something?" The mage turned around and replied, "No, I am in the T.S.A.B." Lee seemed taken aback but he remembered his dad saying that their were mages younger than him in the Bureau so he wasn't completely thrown off guard. "By the way, my name is Saito Yui, pleased to meet you." Lee remembered hearing the name before but he couldn't remember so he continued, "So what's your rank? I think my father mentioned you before. Are you part of section 5?" The mage looked a little angry at the comment. "Please don't mention me in reference to such a minor rank. It was hard to work up to the top where I am now. Being the Supreme General Commander isn't an easy thing to do, though you do seem to have some skill." Lee remembered an old conversation he had with his dad, "_The rank above the Generals, the highest rank without being a Special Forces member or on the council is the Supreme General Commander. The current Supreme General Commander Saito Yui, is the one who gives us generals our orders._" Lee then just realized who he was talking to, "Wait a minute, do you mean the Supreme General Commander who rules over all the other Generals?" Saito replied, "You got it. My exceptional talent got me the position when the last one who was also my master was invited to the council for his achievements. They hesitated but it is the sole job of the previous Supreme General Commander to choose their successor. Only if they are unable to does the council decide. Even against the council's opinion, he made me his successor and left for the council. He is now considered an odd ball on the council but his decision is final, no one under any circumstances can alter it." Lee looked amazed that someone his own age ruled over his own father. Saito then said, "By the way, you were pretty impressive in your battle earlier, still nothing on me but also very impressive. Work the kinks out and work your way up to my level. If you do, I would enjoy a sparring match." Lee didn't know what to say. "Okay. Although to be honest, I could still go farther if I really tried. I know for a fact that unconsciously on some level, I held back quite a bit, trying not to repeat what happened last time I tried a full powered attack." Saito then said, "I already knew that. If you had gone full out, I don't think this island you call Japan would be anything more than dust. I could feel you barricading at least a good 50 percent of your magic. For one thing, this attack according to headquarters only had 60 percent of the power the attack you shot at Fretica had. It only hit 1.6 billion. That means that the same still holds true for the statement I said earlier. Train and meet me as an equal. Also, I suggest joining the Bureau; it can only help. I can put you in as a special officer reporting only to me or would you rather be put under your dad." Lee replied, "Not now, there is still stuff I have to do but I will probably join in the future." Saito sighed but said, "Better than nothing." Then he walked away. Lee continued the search for his father.

He met up with his father who was waiting for him by the door. "Time to go Lee," said Mary. John, after looking at his son for a second, said, "Why haven't you released your barrier jacket yet?" Lee, without realizing it, had been wearing his Barrier Jacket for the entire second half of the party. He wondered If that was the reason why everyone kept looking at him as he walked past them. He thought it was because of what he had done earlier. The released it and they got in the Limo and headed home.


	24. A Battle Between Will's

The Haruno Chronicles

Ch. 24 Seems like everyone found the much-needed power-up under the rock in this chapter. After they are all set and done they somehow all became eligible General candidates. Sora is even building himself a new attack. Lee learns more about combinations as well. Heck, even Lance got in on some of the fun. But it all stops when an emergency pops up and it turns into a brother mission when both Lee and Sora are sent to do the Job.

Disclaimer: Everything, material, characters, locations ect… are property of the respective people.

Chapter 24 – A Battle Between Will's

It was a week after the party. Nanoha had tried the magic weights training. It proved to have great results as Nanoha's power skyrocketed when her weights disappeared. Without the barrier, John was pretty sure that the block would have disappeared. Everyone then wanted to do the training. John understood their feelings. Due to the training, Lee and Nanoha had made a huge leap in head of them in terms of power. They were on a totally different level from the rest of them now. This made the others feels weak. To compensate for this, John designed a special magic weight he had already been developing for use with AAA mages. It allowed AAA mages to get the same training but it took 2 weeks instead of one. It was made to increase the level of which it limited magic output as the mage improved until it was at the level the normal ones were.

They all decided to do the training. The only thing was that it couldn't train a mage to be more than a SSS mage, but that was still light years more than what they were now. They all took the training. To make it go faster (in terms of regular time), John had lance put up a space-time barrier like he did with their original training to make the two weeks fit into 3 days, which he did with Nanoha's training, the result being that 4 days after the party, they all had become SSS mages. In fact, for some reason, the bands had malfunctioned so that they all became SSS+ mages when transformed. It was a complete success except for one problem. Even if the limit was already set for once when using the bands, for the next day afterward, all of them were leaking out magic like crazy and they couldn't control it. It took them a day to get it under their control. It was a good thing they had gotten it in just a day. If it had gone on any longer, it would have depleted their linker cores and they would have lost their magic. Lee was actually the first to come out without leaking magic, and that was only due to the fact he had fired it all with his attack.

But after they gained control of their new magical powers, they all were considerably stronger. Lee scrimmaged a mid air battle with Sarah at her request. She had become a tough opponent. She even did something that surprised Lee. She fired one of his attacks at him, his **GLOWING SHOOTER**. This caught him off guard as a Gold blast came at him. He dodged and to his surprise, she made the blast follow him. He decided to fight fire with fire and shot a **GLOWING SHOOTER. **He made his collide with Sarah's. Then she surprised him a second time with a new extreme level attack, **DESTINY BREAKER.** He wasn't prepared for a breaker attack and barely had time to dodge. He then predicted the other one coming and he prepared a breaker attack of his own. They collided in mid air. Lee had to put an extra surge of power in his to get it to break through, but it did. Luckily and unluckily at the same time, Sarah had already prepared her next attack, **SHARDS OF LIGHT**. Lee countered with his **FLASH SHIFT.** He realized, as this was the first time he had used the attack outside the training, that without restraints, he could make a hundred of them easy and could control up to about 60 at once. Sakura had him beat still because the training made it so she could do hundreds easy. He shot some extra shots at Sarah, which made a clean hit. "I win, that's it for today," said Lee, Flying to the ground, un-transforming as he did.

While Lee and Sarah were training, Sora was practicing on creating an attack. Their dad said that matured mages (those over 18) had enough brain development to create an attack. He said it would benefit him in the long run if he created a good long distance attack. He said that a breaker would be a good attack to try and make so he told Sora all he needed to know. To make an attack, you have to physically draw it's magic circle the first time, to register it with it's own magic print. It took a while to draw one with chalk but he managed it by tracing over one he created. The next step was to think of exactly what you wanted it to be. He was focusing hard. If he got the image, his device should be able to form the attack using the drawn circle as a base. He was trying hard but it never got to the final point of firing, though magic did gather. John told him that no attack was ever made in a day and that he already had gotten far.

Nanoha, Lance, Sakura, and Chrono weren't slouching either. As the enemy's strength went up, they needed to up their own too, so they were in a four-way battle. Even though Lance wasn't a fighter mage, I didn't mean he didn't know an attack. He was actually better than Lee's initial expectation. The attack was slow but sure. If it made contact, it did some damage. He called it **SIEGE BLAST.** It was one of his only three attacks. They sparred for 20 minutes after Lee and Sarah had finished. Counting the number of most hits, Sakura was the winner but in terms of damage, Nanoha had them all outclassed. But they had forced her to use her Starlight Breaker to do so, which was a first for Nanoha. On the other hand, with the training, it didn't take nearly as much out of her as it had before. She felt good enough to fire it many more times in fact. They rapped up their session and went in for dinner, which they were having at Chrono's house that night.

After dinner, they talked for a while. They ended up loosing track of time and it got late. Predicting this, Chrono's mother had already called their parents saying that they would be staying over for the night. They all went to sleep pretty late and woke up late the next morning. Then they said they were going out for the day, which wasn't a lie today. They needed a break from training so they were going to the Mall. They left and then went shopping (a.k.a. Nanoha, Sakura and Sarah shopped while the rest of them carried the bags.) Sora had split for the day to go do a summer assignment his college sent him. Apparently, it was sent late due to a mailing error, which bummed out Sora who thought he was off the hook this summer. After a few hours, they left the mall for home. They were all dropped off at their respective houses. Lee decided to take a little break from magic and decided to spend the rest of the day on his sword training, which he had been neglecting lately. Sarah decided to join him. Sora, after deciding on taking a break from his summer homework, started his training again for making his own attack. Over dinner, Sora reminded them that they still had a load of summer Homework. They had both forgotten completely and school started in two weeks. They both decided to use the rest of the night to do some of it. The next part of their homework was surprisingly easy, and they got twice as much done as the last time they had done some. Now they were ½ way done respectively.

The next 3 days passed just like this one with little variation. On the fourth day, John had decided to change things up a bit and h had something he needed to tell them anyway. He didn't tell them anything but he just said, "Come to the park, 10 sharp." They all went hurriedly to the park after breakfast, where John was already waiting for them. "Good, your all here. Lets go." Before they knew it, they were teleported onto John's ship, the ARTIMIS. They followed John through the portal door he made in front of them and arrived in a meeting room where Amy and a few Bureau clerks were already sitting. They sat down and John walked to the General's chair at the end of the table.

"Okay, now that were all here, lets get started." Sarah was about to ask why they were there when Sora stopped her with a "Not the right time" look. John then started the meeting, "Okay, this is a meeting concerning the events happening on Earth currently. First off," a screen appeared behind him, "The repeated activations of the Class 1 Lost Logia, the Saren Stones. It has become the attention of the Bureau after the events at my General's party that this is a problem that we cannot overlook. Thus, the Council has given section 5 a direct missions order to capture, seal and secure the Saren stones and have them sent to Bureau headquarters to be placed in a class Z vault. Unfortunately, the Bureau has no authority as of now to do anything on earth, as it is technically an un-administered planet. At least, without permission, which brings us to the first reason why I have brought you," he looked at them all, "here today. As you are all mage of an un-administered planet, the dimensional law states that you are the ones who are in charge of it on a dimensional level. I, born on Machida, do not have the authority to make any decisions of this magnitude. You though, as residential mages of Earth do have the right to make this decision so I ask you, not as a father or friend but as a representative of the T.S.A.B., will you allow the T.S.A.B. to take over the responsibility of re-capturing the Saren stones and holding them."

The group looked at each other. They opened a telepathic connection between them all. "_I don't know what to do. I wasn't expecting this,"_ said Sora. Then Nanoha and Lance popped in. "_Our world is Maral so we don't have a right to decide._" They communicated for a bit and about 5 minutes later, they had come to a decision. Sarah was the first to speak, "No, We have decided as a group to not let you take over this responsibility." John was taken aback. He had not expected this. He though they would say yes purely due to the fact that he was Lee, Sarah and Sora's father. "I will not force you to change your decision as it is outside of my authority as a general of the Bureau, but may I ask why." Lee answered this, "Realize that before we say it, Nanoha and Lance had nothing to do with this decision." John nodded in agreement. "The original reason we were collecting the Saren Stones is because Lance asked us for help. It was his father's last wish that Lance come with Nanoha and collect the stones. In fact, without that, we would have never met and our magic may have never surfaced, even if we were half mage to begin with. But there is another reason now why we must continue." The entire group looked surprised at this, they hadn't discussed this. "No one knows this but 2 weeks ago, another person who was searching for the stones came and approached me. We had already met but we met in battle and we ended up in a fight. I won but regardless of this fight of the other hostilities we have done towards her, she came un-armed and defenseless. She only came to talk so I listened. During the conversation, she asked me a question "_If you do something bad to do something good, is that wrong?"_ At the time, I didn't have a real answer but I have one now. If you are doing something good, something you want to do from the bottom of your heart for someone you care about, then that can never be wrong. The only wrong thing you can do is stop and give up because that doesn't just affect you, but the people around you and even more importantly, the one you are trying to help. That is the only wrong thing you can do in this case. So, with that, we cannot give up, we cannot stop. All we can do is keep going forward until it is done."

Everyone looked at Lee. All three of the girls had tears in their eyes from emotion overload; Sora came and patted his brother on the back. Chrono had thumbs up. Lance looked like he was about to cry from happiness. John smiled, "Good answer." Everyone looked at John as he said this. They all became confused, even Amy and the other mages. "I didn't raise my son to be a quitter or a coward. I was hoping you were going to refuse. Now that that is settled, I have another proposition and this is one I really hope you will consider and accept. How would you like to work with the T.S.A.B. on this case as Temporary special agents of section 5? You would pretty much be able to do what ever you want and the only person who could give you orders is me. Even the council couldn't give you orders. And you would have the T.S.A.B backing you. So what do you say?" Lee and the others didn't need more than a minute to come up with their answer. They all answered at once, "We accept!"

"Good, I thought you would, but for you to agree, you would need to stay on this ship, is that okay? I already have a cover story for your parents," he pointed at Chrono and Sakura (Sakura including Nanoha and Lance as they were under her parents supervision), "And I already spoke this over with Mom so the rest of you are in the clear." They again accepted. "Good, good, now as for the cover story, We are all going on a two week vacation to a beach house I own, it actually exists so we can use it as cover if need-be. I will invite you and you accepted the invitation while you will actually be on this ship. We can only due two weeks because the new semester at your schools starts then and we can't have you missing that." They said it was a good plan until something occurred to Lee. "I think the plan is good and all but what about our summer Homework. We could never finish it all." John smiled again, "Remember," as a few crewmembers took out 5 boxes, "you have the T.S.A.B. to back you up, for ANYTHING." They all smiled when John continued, "Each one was made to replicate your actual grade average except for Lee in math. Even I, his own father have to have some mercy." Lee smiled and hugged his dad. "If I'm right, you are already finished Sora, "more or less, just got to organize it. Won't take me more than an hour." John then told them the plan for the next day. John was going to pick them up in his car and they would drive out to a meeting point where they would be teleported onto the ship. They were all to get ready tonight.

They were teleported back soon after the meeting was over. John then drove them all to their houses. To Chrono's, Sakura's, and Nanoha's surprise, their parents (Nanoha's Guardian/Sakura's father and Step-mother) had already been called and had started packing for them already. When Lee and his siblings got home, their mother had also started packing but had not included camping gear, as she knew that they weren't really going camping. They trained for the rest of the day. Sakura and Chrono came over too when they finished packing.

Today, Chrono was going to do close range mid-air sparring with Lee. He was only going to use his MWD. Chrono had asked Lee to help him master this mode better. It was a mode where he could change it into any weapon of his choice and he gained physical stat boosts as well. Unlike Lee, who had been taught by his father how to use a sword for most of his life, Chrono had no type of weapon training what so ever. John, who had a mastery of more than just a sword, decided to help too. He chose three weapons that suited Chrono the most. The first was a slightly over-sized long sword, sort of like Lee's staff-sword but bigger and wider. Due to this mode's abilities, the weight of the weapon never changed so he could make it as big as he wanted. The next was a war-hammer, which could produce shockwave it hit across the ground. The third was a sort of large handgun that could fire unlimited blasts of magic. Chrono didn't know he could make something like this, he thought he was limited to direct contact weapons. The hand gun was no problem as his sense bonus he got from magic made his aim almost perfect, he could even control up to three shots at a time. It wasn't nearly as much as Lee or Sakura but John said that there was just some people who weren't meant for that type of stuff. The trickier ones were the sword and the hammer. John had to teach him the basics of each and their mechanics but once he got it down, he was a natural. Lee and Chrono then sparred to get Chrono accustomed to these new weapons.

Sarah wanted to practice her flying maneuverability and Nanoha joined her. They did this by helping Sakura practice her new attack, **PLATNIUM SHIFT.** It was pretty much a Sakura style version of John's **RAGING JUDGEMENT.** The only exception was that she could control each and every single one of the blasts individually. She could create up to 500 spheres around her that could be fired at will. She was working on her aim while controlling them all. No one knew how she did it. It boggled all their minds on how in the world Sakura could control so many and still be accurate and what was more, she could make them combine in mid-air unlike John who needed to gather them in his hand. Sarah and Nanoha continued their practice as Sakura fired at them. It was good practice because Sakura was a tough opponent.

Sora was still working on his new Breaker attack. He was getting close. Now when he started, the sphere completed itself, but when it fired, it went all of 2 yards before disappearing. He still refused to give up and continued to work on the attack. He even called over Garret from next door to ask him for advice. Garret too had made his own attack before. He gave Sora some pointers. With the help, Sora was able to fire it up to 40 yards, a hell of a lot better than before but the form of the attack would disappear after that. At one point in the day, Matt and his two little sisters came over too to see what was happening. They decided they wanted to train themselves too and so they split into groups. Lee and Chrono stopped and made a group of four with Lance, Lee, Chrono and Matt. Then Rachel and Louise went with Sarah and Nanoha and Garret went with Sakura. It turned out that Garret was also a sniper type and he was able to give her some advice. They trained until dinner when The Johnson's had to go home. Sora had gotten farther but as his dad had mentioned, the attack still lacked form and that was cutting its power by more than 90%. Once he got that down, he would have a great attack.

Later, they went to sleep after talking for a bit. They woke up the next morning and ate breakfast quickly. Their Dad was waiting for them in the car, which now "looked" like it was fully packed to go to the beach house.. They went and picked up Chrono, Sakura and Lance (who was in Human form this time) and to their surprise, went back to Lee's House and parked the car in the garage. "We can't have the car sitting in a parking lot for two weeks, now can we." They all got out of the car. Before they knew it, they had been teleported onto the ship from Lee' garage. John then showed them where they would be sleeping. They went to John's quarters that was more like a house built into a ship. They were sleeping in the bedrooms he had made in his own on-ship house. Due to the fact that there were seven people and 5 rooms, they were split up as followed. Chrono and Lee were going to sleep in Lee's room, Sakura and Nanoha were going to share one of the guest room, Lance was going to take the other guest room, Sarah was going to sleep In her room and Sora was in his own room as well. Sora and Sarah were surprised when they went into their room and actually saw _THEIR ROOM_. This shocked them when John explained he had three rooms modeled after their rooms for whenever they were going to be on the ship. John also registered them all (except Lee) as Guests with full level authorization, two bellow the administrator in the ships computer and that they had privileges to use his portal door and a few other privileges like access cards ect… Lee already had an Access card but he realized that his was a higher rank than everyone else's but decided it wasn't worth mentioning.

They settled into their rooms and except for Lee who went to practice his sword techniques in the dojo (the one in his dad's Quarters), the rest went to explore the ship. This was their first time on it and it was much bigger than the Asura. Amy gave them a tour around. Lee practiced his sword techniques for a while, and then he remembered the tablet that he had with him full of advice on his Combination attacks. He decided to go to one of the training rooms and try and do some. He took out the tablet and started to read through it for the first time. He started to read through it until he found it, a "How to" guide on how to do combination attacks. It said:

_Combination attacks, these are without a doubt, the most powerful of all the attack types. They are a fusion of two or more mages attacks by a single mage, but only one attack can be borrowed from each mage. The second attack is "borrowed" from another mage(s). That mage has to be 'mentally' close to the user for the combination to be successful. Physical distance is not a major factor, but the attack is strongest when physically close to the other mage. Physical contact with the second mage will result in the attacks maximum. The user can also fuse two attacks that are not his by acting as a medium between the other two mages, who have to be close in proximity to each other. It is also possible to combine two of the users own attacks to do a combination, but they will be slightly weaker then if done with another's spell._

_Okay, those are the basics you need to know before the user actually uses a combination attack. There are two methods for using a combination attack. The first is for the user to summon more than 100% of their strength. This method, though is the easiest of the two has a few flaws. The first is that the user has no control over the attack. Once fired, it cannot be stopped. The second is that the other attack for the fusion will come from the mage mentally closest to you at the time. There is no choice in what attack you get from them either. The other downfall of this attack is the power output. Using this method will use up ALL of the users magic supply. This will usually result in an undesirable backlash effect for the user. BUT, this is the more powerful method. Also, I would like to add on a personal that I would not use this method too often, as it does serious damage to the user's linker core if not done properly. It is also almost guaranteed to cause a Dimensional shift. I urge the user to THINK HARD before using this method._

_The second, safer method requires a bit of effort and training from the user. This method, though not as powerful as method 1 is just as effective. This method allows the user to call upon a combination attack at will even with no device. It also gives the user control over the attack, including the source mage and even the attack. This method is usable under two conditions. The first is that both you and the other mage know each other on a personal level. It is emotion that gives the COMBINATION ATTACK its power. The second is that the mage is able to combine the attacks themselves. Unlike method on where the sheer power fuses the attacks together, this method uses willpower as the bonding agent. This is where the effort comes in. The method is as follows:_

_Focus hard on the mage(s) you want to borrow the attack from and the attack (If you want to use your own, imagine yourself.)_

_Form your attack and charge it up while still concentrating on the other mage and attack._

_Now, if the two steps were done right, imagine yourself forming the other mages attack and it should appear next to your own._

_If done correctly, there should be two attacks in front of you. Now comes the hard part. It really can't be described but try and imagine yourself combining the attacks. Imagine the attacks fusing in your mind. Then focus all of your will power to kind of push the attacks together._

_If successful, the two attacks should have fused in front of you, the base color your own while being surrounded in an aura of the color of the other mage(s). Now all you need to do is fire it like any attack. The name and how to use it will come instinctively. _

_I hope this short guide is of help to future combination users. Please use the main guide for other questions._

Lee finished reading the manual. He stood up and decided to give it a try. According to the manual, the person had to be someone he knew well. He thought about it and decided to use Sakura and her **SCARLET FURY BUSTER**. He transformed to make it easier. He made his own **SHINNING BUSTER** for the base that appeared before him as he envisioned it. Then he focused as hard as he could on Sakura and her attack. He waited until it was the only thing in his mind. Then he imagined himself making the attack. To Lee's great surprise, the basic form of Sakura's **SCARLET FURY BUSTER** appeared in front of him, next to his attack. He then focused on step 4, the actual combination of the attacks. This was supposed to be the hardest part and the guide wasn't kidding. It was harder than Lee could of imagined; no matter how much he tried to make them fuse, they didn't even budge, they jut stood motionless in front of him. He went back to the manual and looked for the section again. He saw a help button at the bottom of the steps description. A new window came up on the tablet:

_If you are reading this, it most likely means that you are having trouble even moving the attacks close enough to each other to fuse them. There are only two bits of advice I can give to you. The first is the visualization. Picture two different colored balls of light, one blue and one yellow, moving closer to each other, then at the moment of contact, imagine the part where they overlap turning into an all-new color, green. Now for the second part, the emotional state of the user. The entire reason for COMBINATION ATTACKS being so powerful is that it draws it's power from emotions, the emotions of the user, the emotions of the mage who you are combining with, and all those who believe in you and your power. Through those emotions, bonds are formed. Those bonds are the true source of the attacks power. As there is an unlimited amount of emotion, the power of a Combination attack is also limitless. For this part, I can offer no help but if you dig deep enough into yourself, you will find what you need._

Lee tried again. He made the two attacks appear in front of him. He then thought about the two light orbs in his mind. Suddenly, the two attacks in front of him started to move slowly, then a bit faster until they were about to touch. When they finally touched though, to Lee' dismay, they sort of bounced off each other, as if refusing to fuse. Lee knew that he got the first part of the tip right, but he just couldn't get the emotion part of it. He was trying hard to focus on any and all memories he had of Sakura when they were growing up but to no avail. He tried to make them fuse for almost two hours, and then he decided to call it quits for now, hoping something would give him some inspiration.

He went to go find the others, who happened to be in the cafeteria as it was lunchtime. He grabbed some food and headed over to join them. "Where have you been Lee?" said Chrono. The rest asked the same thing. He replied, "Just doing some training in the training room. I have been trying out combination attacks." The rest of them gulped. They, Lee was sure, were afraid of what would happen if he actually launched one on this ship in the middle of nowhere dimensions away from any civilization what so ever. Lee then continued, "It's not what you think. Edwin Aster has been doing research on combination attacks all his life, being a user himself, and he handed some of his research on them to me. I have just been trying out it's method, which if done right, is nowhere as destructive as what I have been doing until now. For instance," he formed two spheres in front of him, and Chrono was surprised that one of them was his **CRASH SHOT.** And then Lee made them move close to each other. "Impressive Lee," said Chrono. Lance also looked amazed. "But here's the problem," Lee continued as he made the spheres touch and they bounced off each other. "Every time I try to combine them, they bounce off each other so I can't complete the attack. The only help the manual gave for this step was to look in yourself and find a connection between you and the mage of the second attack. But I just can't seem to figure out what I am supposed to be looking for." The rest of them thought for a second but none of them was able to give Lee advice. They who couldn't even use a combination had no idea how to make one. Lance said that he should try remembering the person but Lee had already tried that and failed.

They pretty much spent the next three days lying around the ship. They all went to the two training rooms in shifts to train a bit, except for Lee. They decided to Let him have half of the first one to himself so that he could continue to work on his combination attacks. John came down occasionally to teach them all something useful. He was sort of becoming their magic teacher, giving them advice. Sora was still working on his attack on the other side of Lee in the same room. He was in there almost as much as Lee. He was working hard towards completing his new attack. He was anxious to have a breaker of his own.

He wasn't the only one trying to improve though. With help from John, Sakura and Chrono both found out about the FLIP in their specials mode (FIRING type for Sakura, MWD for Chrono). These modes had a second sub-mode to them. John said that mages who specialize in a certain range in combat usually do. Chrono found out that his MWDs Flip was that it turned into a gauntlet with two revolving gears on his wrist. It appeared on his right hand while his left hand was normal. John showed him how it was different from the other weapons he could make his staff turn into. For instance, the other weapons were just weapons, but Chrono had some spells with this weapon. Besides being able to use **CRASH SHOT V2**, which was an attack where it made a blast shoot at the opponent on contact, bit a new attack as well called **REVOLVER**. This attack started out by gathering magic inside the gauntlet, which made the gears spin rapidly, creating a strong air-current around the gauntlet. Then finally, he released the magic into the air-current and shot it at close range at the target, which tore itself up. It was a strange attack because it could only be shot at close range, despite not needing any contact with the opponent and two, it looked like Chrono was throwing a blue twister in the form of a sphere.

Sakura's Flip was with her Shooting type. She found out that she could turn it into a very larger set cannon. It looked like a normal silver colored cannon barrel propped up on two legs on the ground. There was a scope on the end and a trigger a quarter of the way down on the bottom like a riffle. It was like a giant riffle that was just too big to hold. The only weird thing though was the end. Six rods at the end stuck out perpendicular to the barrel and curled back in to each other farther up. This, according to John, was called a set weapon. In exchange for no maneuverability besides turning it and moving it up and down, it had extreme accuracy and massive power. It could also focus power about 4 times as well as normal. As such, all of her attacks with it would be too powerful to try on the ship so she couldn't try it out.

On the third day, they were starting to get really sick of being on the ship. Then came a large horn sound. Then every screen in sight and all the lights turned red. Every screen said the same thing, "EMERGENCY ALERT, GET TO LEVEL 2 STATIONS." It was also being broadcasted through the speakers. Lee and the others didn't know what to do when Amy came and found them. "Good, I found you," she said, entering the training room Lee and Sora were in. "Orders from your father, Lee, Sora, and Lance are to go to the main teleport bay at once. Everyone else is to go to the Bridge." The others had already come into the training room where Amy was to see what was going on. As soon as Amy finished, Lee, Sora and Lance went through a portal door that the ship made automatically and entered the teleport bay. As they got ready to be teleported, they heard their fathers voice come out of the speaker. "Lee, Sora, Lance, a high magic reading confirmed to be a Saren stone has been confirmed in the Yukata Forest south of Tokyo. We are sending you there to capture the stone. Good Luck."

They were then teleported straight off the ship and into the middle of a thick forest. Lee had only been to this forest once with his family for a camping trip. They flew up to try and find any abnormality that would lead them to the stone. They didn't need to look far. There was a giant black cloud about a kilometer away, and in the center of it, there was a giant black snake with wings, in other words, a Dragon. Its eye's were red and it looked mad. It started off by shooting of a powerful blast of black magic at them. Lance but up a strong shield to counteract it, then, he put a barrier around it. It wasn't a time delay barrier like normal. To make the barrier stronger and because there was no need to stop time while they were in the middle of nowhere, he did a simple, but incredibly strong Space shift barrier that covered a good 10 km. Sora told Lee to let him handle this as he hadn't got a lot of action as of late. Lee had fought the last three of them and so Lee let Sora go to fight. Sora was actually happy to finally get to do something after being on the sidelines for so long. He didn't want to let his training go to waste. He flew towards the dragon and tried to cut it with his staff in its normal/sword mode. He then shot a few of his **FLAME SLASH**'s at the dragon that didn't do much damage. Knowing that going super close range was probably not the best idea in this case, Sora changed his staff into **STORM MODE**. He then fired a bunch of his **FLAMING BLITZ CRIEGES **at it which seemed to do some damage. Lee decided to just lay back and watch the fight. Since Sora was also able to Seal, he felt at ease enough to sit back in the air and watch the battle.

Back on the ship, the rest of them were on the bridge, looking at a large screen in front of them, displaying the battle. Amy was telling John to tell Lee to stop being lazy and go help, but John already knew that Lee had been asked to lay off and told Amy, "I can't, that would only make Sora mad. He hasn't had a chance to prove himself lately and Lee has been getting loads of fame and the good stuff from all his recent achievements lately. Sora wants some for himself and I am sure that he is as stiff as a brick from being on this ship for four days with nothing to do. Plus it will be good experience for him." She backed off and watched the battle.

Back at the sight of the battle, Sora had changed his staff into its original sword form and used **HEAT STRIKE FLAME **to cut the black dragon straight in half. Then where the cut was, it started to burn into flames on each half. The half with the tail was burned into ashes and blew away but the half with the head regenerated the tail part from where the cut was and pretty much blew out the flames. It then made a huge black magic circle in front of itself. It then started to charge a super large sphere of magic in front of itself in the magic circle. To counter it, Sora charged up his **FLASH FLARE CANNON.** They both shot their attacks at once. It was extremely clear though to anyone who was watching which one was stronger as the black wave of magic tore through the Orange one like wet paper and almost hit Sora. Luckily, he did a triple play with a shield, an aura and a special magic Displacement field called "**ODENS GARDEN"** that Lance had taught him a while back. With all three defensive spells in place, he only received a quarter of the damage. Unfortunately, that wasn't saying much for the actual amount of damage he received. He was shot backwards through the air from the impact and barely regained his ground before a smaller blast of black energy was coming his way. He dodged and flew back to where he was before he was hit. He then noticed that it was going to fire its super attack again. He didn't know what to do but for some reason instinctively; he raised his staff and started to form a huge mass of energy in front of him in a magic circle. He then focused everything he had on the attack, trying to keep its form. The monster shot its wave of magic at Sora and Sora did the same with his untested Breaker. They collided and for a second, it seemed that Sora's was going to win, but then, it just disappeared. It wasn't canceled, it just broke apart and the other blast went through. He just managed to dodge the attack.

He now thought he was out of options, and Lee did too. Lee was about to go in to help when he felt two binds restrict his feet. They were dark gold. Then he got a message from his father, "_If you truly care about your brother, you WILL stay where you are and watch this play out."_ Lee didn't think it was a good decision but he went along with it, not that he had a choice in the matter as he couldn't seam to get out of his fathers bind.. Sora was desperate now. He tried making his breaker 3 more times, only to see them break apart before they even made contact. He was trying as hard as he could. Then, the fourth time he tried to make it, it broke before the sphere even finished forming. The dragon then charged up another of it's super attacks. It was about to launch when Sora heard FLARE STORM say something, "Use **F****laming****C****annon****D****river.****"** Sora, now out of other options decided to go with his gut. He held his staff out. "**FCD, IGNITE!"** He started to glow bright orange, then a giant orange Magic Circle appeared underneath him. Then his staff changed from his STORM MODE to a staff with had a perpendicular handle half way down it and the head was bright, flaming orange. It looked like Lee's except there were four points coming out at the base of the head. Also, on top of the U part of it, there was an O shaped part, perpendicular to the U part.

Sora pointed the staff out in front of him. A HUGE magical circle appeared under him. Then a large sphere of orange magical energy appeared in front of him. But it was different to anyone looking, for one; it was a hell of a lot more concentrated and powerful. The second one was that it had an aura of flames. And that wasn't all; it was getting bigger and more concentrated by the second. In response, the black dragon increased the size of it's own attack. They both seemed to grow in unison. "**VOLCANIC BREAKER**_**!!!**_**"** They fired their attacks off at the same time. They collided in mid-air and for a second, it seemed to be a tie. Then Sora's Breaker did something unusual, its fiery aura grew as the two attacks butted heads. Then in one moment, it just broke past the Dragons attack and hit it straight on with full power and incinerated it, literally. Then a huge explosion engulfed the area in smoke. Then a small blue orb with the Saren stone appeared out of the smoke. He changed his staff into sealing mode and 4 large orange wings appeared at the base of the head. FLARE STORM said, "Saren Stone, number 16" Then Sora said, "SEA-."

Mid-sentence, Sora got blasted from behind with a huge blast of yellow electrified energy. It was so powerful, it forced Sora to return to his normal state and his staff disappeared and turned into a cracked orange marble. But it still held together as Sora caught it. He hit the ground hard and fell unconscious. Lee looked at who fired the blast. He saw a mage with long blond hair and had a black staff with a black cape and was wearing a black sleeveless skintight top and a white mini-skirt. Fate flew towards the Saren stone. Then she stopped and turned her staff into sealing mode. To prevent fate from getting it, Lee shot a blast to make her move and loose her spell. Then he flew over quickly to confront her.

Fate said, "Hello Lee." Lee replied, "What did you do that for! That was my bro you just blasted." Fate then said, "Don't worry, I only rendered him unconscious, nothing more. I made sure of it." Lee looked down to where his brother was. He felt for his magic's pulse and it was there, loud and clear. It just felt as if he was just sleeping. Lee then said, "But why did you do that." Fate then replied, "Because, I needed the Saren stone and if he had sealed it, I would have to fight him for it and that would only cause him more pain. I just wanted to get it the way easiest for everyone." Lee then yelled, "But that is just so wrong. Why do you need something so dangerous?" "Because, someone close to me wants them, and I will do anything if it is for that certain someone." "But what about what you said when you came to talk. You then were already questioning whether or not you were doing the right thing. If that is the case, then tell me how you justify this?" Fate looked at Lee. He could see, very deeply but hidden, a load of sadness from her, especially in her eyes. "You should know that answer already. You told me after all. You said "_A good deed shouldn't require anything bad." _If you were telling the truth, then for trying to make someone important to me happy, there is no wrong." Lee looked at Fate, at the determination and sadness in her eyes. He then pointed his staff at Fate. "Then this is the only way. You fight with your will against my will and we'll see whose is stronger. The winner will get this stone plus a stone from the user. I know you have at least two."

Fate didn't need to speak to answer; she just pointed her staff at Lee. Then Lee's changed into a sword and hers into a huge sword almost twice as big as she was. They flew at each other. The stone flew into the air as to protect itself from the battle. They collided many times. Then Fate stepped back and changed her barrier jacket into something like a bathing suit, except that it had a belt and bits of armor. Then she flew straight above Lee. She took the sword and lifted it up into the air. Suddenly, a yellow magic circle appeared under her and her sword, whose blade was almost entirely made up of magic, started to glow brightly. "**THUNDER RAGE"** She stabbed the sword into the circle and a column of magic appeared out of the magic circle, exactly the same circumference as the magic circle. Lee placed a shield in front of him to counter it, but it broke through it. He dodged the worst of it but was still hit pretty badly. **"THUNDER CLAP"** she made an electric whirlwind around herself, which hit Lee and sent him flying backwards. He then recovered himself and then changed his staff into SHOOTING MODE. He then shot a **SHINNING BUSTER** at Fate, who blocked it easily. Then Fate started to make an **AMF**, the sphere was in her hand, but then she remembered a vivid image of what happened last time, knowing that she would loose. She dispelled it and then prepared another attack. He then used **FLASH SHIFT** and made them appear above them and circle around to hit her from behind. "**PHOTON LANCER, PHANLAX SHIFT."** A bunch of yellow electrified sphere's appeared around her and she fired them to counter Lee's. Lee then did a two-part attack with his **FLASH SHIFT **and **SHINNING BUSTER.** He started by making 12 sets of eight spheres in a circle rowing back. Then in the middle, he formed his Buster. Then he fired the first set of spheres, which circled around Fate. Then he fired his buster and all the remaining spheres to create a 360-degree attack that made a solid impact. Fate dodged the spheres but took the buster full force. She fell to the ground. Then she got up to fight again. "**PHOTON LANCER, GENOCIDE SHIFT!"** She made countless spheres of electric yellow magic energy that surrounded Lee. There were 1000's of them. Then they turned into arrows with spell ribbons around them. Lee couldn't escape; he was surrounded on all sides. "**SHOOT!!!"** They all fired at once, leaving absolutely no empty or weak spot in the attack. Then a huge explosion enveloped the area.

Fate thought she had won but then Lee appeared above her out of nowhere. His staff was now a sword and he was coming down hard. He dispelled any of his aviation magic to put the force of gravity behind his attack. He even used the forms super speed to push it further. It was so fast that Fate had no time to even move. Lee made a solid impact with Baradiche, Fates staff. He then flew back to avoid a counter assault. When he looked back he saw that her staff was cut cleanly in two and that he had given Fate a shallow but large cut straight across her chest. He then saw her throw away the half of the staff without the head and took the other one in both hands with what was left of the body. She then began to glow bright Yellow with sparks around her. "**FULL RECOVERY**"said Baradiche. From the bottom up, a magic circle surrounded Fate and her staff and as it went up, whatever it passed seemed to heal, including Fate's staff. When she was done, Fate and her staff looked like the battle thus far hadn't even happened. Fate then yelled, "Good one Lee, You made me use recovery, and I can only do that once, but now I will go full force."

Lee and Fate continued the battle. During the battle, Lee knew two things. The first was that he could of won no hands down if he used his **PURE LIGHT BREAKER**, and the second was that he knew that he couldn't shoot it at her and risk her life. He knew that she wasn't doing this for a malicious reason and that it would be wrong to hurt her like that for trying to help an important person to her. He also had another thought but he knew that he couldn't do it yet, but as the battle progressed, he felt he had no alternative." "**GLOW BIND**." Four binds appeared on Fate's arms and Legs, keeping her from moving at all. "Fate," yelled Lee, "If this works, survive it." She looked grimed at what was about to happen to her. Lee focused hard. After hard thought, he realized something. He told her to fight with their will on the line so if he didn't give her his all, he would be a liar and would feel guilty. He also knew that Fate would not thank him for stepping on her pride. So he decided to give it all he got.

He made a Large **PURE LIGHT BREAKER** appear in front of him. Then he focused on Sora. His **VOLCANIC BREAKER **appeared in front of Lee. He then made them move closer together. Then a thought appeared in Lee's head. It was that this wasn't just his power, but the power of someone close to him, someone he cared about. Suddenly, the two spheres started to glow in harmony and merge into one large golden sphere with an aura of flaming orange. Fate broke the bind was held in place by pure awe. "_Power of the Earth, the Power to shake even its very core, whose power comes from the sun, Create a new power of unison and destroy that which blocks my way."_ The sphere rose high above Lee, then a Flaming orange magic circle appeared around it. It then made a sort of Solar Eclipse, making it appear black. "**PURE LIGHT BREAKER and VOLCANIC BREAKER FINAL COMBINATION ATTACK, ****BREAKER OF THE BLACK SON, **_**SHOOT!!!!!!!!!!"**___The sphere above Lee fired a huge blast of very dark gold with dark red flames around it right at Fate. She put up every defensive spell she had in triple but it just went through it as if they weren't there. It hit her square on and shot to the ground, pushing Fate along with it and made a huge explosion. Due to the Dimension barrier that John had the crew put up kept the explosion area limited to the sphere, but the crater created destroyed any ground inside the dome, leaving nothing but a giant hole below where Lee was flying. Lance had got Sora out of the way during Lee's charge up so he was unharmed. He flew down to the ground and looked around the area of impact. In the dead center, he saw a yellow barrier. Fate was inside of it. It was her last defense and she was still unconscious.

Lee then saw the stone float down from where it had been floating and Haruno automatically shot a small gold ray at it without Lee having to do anything and sealed it right up. Haruno also shot one at the cracked Baradiche and another one came floating out of it, which then was absorbed by Haruno. Then he walked over to the yellow barrier. It was so damaged; al it took was a good whack with Lee's staff to break it. It shattered and inside, Fate was unconscious and bruised all over, but she was most defiantly alive. Lee felt a bit happy inside and used a healing spell. Not enough to wake her up due to his clear exhaustion but enough to keep her alive until she woke up. As Lance came over with the now conscious Sora, Lee fainted and collapsed. When they got there, they saw Lee on the ground but unknown to them, Fate was gone. Sora picked Lee up and Lance repaired the area with his **MAGICAL RESTORATION**. Then Sora told his father to bring them up. It only took a moment for them to be teleported back onto the ship. Sora used his authorization to connect a portal door with the medical bay, where the ships head doctor and John were waiting. They put Lee down on one of the beds and the med team started a joint magic healing circle. Due to the huge amount of magical capacity Lee had and needed, it would take them half a day of constant work to get him back to normal. Luckily, with the ships new equipment, they were able to cut it down to half an hour.

"So how was I this time," sad Lee. John laughed and took out a piece of paper. "Lets see here. Total destruction radius, Japans largest forests deepest valley. Amount of mages who fainted from amazement, 5, Amount of worried parents and friends, 7, that's a new record Lee." Everyone laughed at the joke until Jon cleared his throat, "To be realistic, you fired an attack with a 1.8 billion level. And the strange thing is that according to reports, you don't have _any_ damage to your Linker core. It must finally be used to all the stress by now. So I take it that you finally have control over your combination attack then?" Lee nodded, "Splendid Lee, good for you. I guarantee that will help you in the future." Everyone went through the now almost pre-rehearsed routine of congratulations and sob stories of worry and amazement.

After another hour, they said Lee was okay to leave the bay but to take it easy and not use magic for another few hours. During that time, they went back to the room and talked on the couches. To give credit where credit was due, Lee told them all about Sora's battle, thought they had all seen the entire thing in a screen, including Lee's part, but it looked like Sora liked to hear the admiration so he continued. He told them how Sora had finally used the attack he invented and how impressive it was. They talked about the battle for a while and afterwards, Lee decided to go to sleep, even though it was only 7:30. Though healed, he was still wiped and no one blamed him. Sora just watched TV, and surprisingly, he got the same channels he got at home while the rest of them decided to do some training before bed as it was still a little early for bed.


	25. Fourway Battle Royal – Good vs Good

The Haruno Chronicles

Ch. 25 Here we get a battle royal. It's good guys versus_ good guys__**?**_What is up with that. Four on four as we fight amongst ourselves, Sort of?

Disclaimer: Everything, material, characters, locations ect… are property of the respective people.

Chapter 25 – Four-Way Battle Royal

During the next week, there wasn't any action. There was another stone response but by the time they were ready to sortie, it had already been confirmed as sealed by Fate. They had just been passing their days by with some intensive training and talking. There wasn't much to do on the ship besides that. They each took turns using on of the two training rooms for a scrimmage. Lee was using the separate simulation room for some Ki training. Though the room wasn't meant for intensive combat like the real training rooms, it could still auto repair from minor damage. Lee was not focusing on his Ki training. According to his father who gave him pointers from time to time, once a swordsman reaches a certain level of physical strength, he will stop growing until the other half, in this case Ki, catches up with it. The two strengths keep each other in check and properly working. One does not exist without the other so you had to keep them near each other if you wanted to grow stronger by any significant portion. Many swordsmen knew this, so they trained on their Ki by meditating. Lee's method of Ki training was different though. He already had a special talent for Ki manipulation, so he practiced with Ki by making as much or it as possible. Though it was not nearly as powerful as his magic, it was still an important asset in any of his battles. It gave him speed and physical strength in a way that magic could not. Also, it was a good back up for situations where magic could not be used.

Sarah decided to join him with Ki training. Her mastery of Ki was, though good, was far below Lee and Sora's. She wanted to be near their level at all costs. She began by watching how Lee did it and copying it. She had a real talent for learning by sight. She was able to get a sword of Ki after only a few hours, while it took Lee a few days. Lee then taught her something for the first time. He taught her how to seal her Ki in levels to hide her strength and release it. Like Lee, it only took her about an hour to get it down. Lee then sparred with her for the rest of the time. Sora also came in sometimes to spar too. Lee and Sora were almost evenly matched. Lee was much faster than Sora but in terms of physical strength and number of techniques, Sora was superior. But that was to be expected, as he was older. But Lee still had Ki techniques. Lee had an amazing talent for using Ki that easily outmatched Sora's.

Lee's father had taught him three new techniques with Ki during that week as well. The first one was simply called KI BLAST. And that was exactly what it was, a small blast of Ki gathered in the right index fingered and shot like a gun. But it was different then a blast of magic. It could not be controlled and when it fired, you had to give it a sort of push with your Ki to launch it, where as Magic shot automatically on it's own without any effort. The second was another simple Ki technique called KI SHIELD. Again, it had an over simplistic nature of just being a shield of condensed Ki. And again, it was different than magic in two ways. One was that it didn't have a form or was constant like a magical barrier; it just was a mass of condensed Ki that you put temporarily in-between you and the opponents attack. The second difference was unlike magic where it just bounced off or disappeared, a shield of Ki was like a normal shield, where the power didn't just disappear. Most of the force rebounded on the attacker but the remaining force just went through the shield as if it was a solid object. If done right, the user could force the power through their body and out the feet so it didn't effect them. The third technique was called RAH KAE. It combined the first two into a physical formed attack in the shape of a spike that could hold an opponent in place. It could not be felt, cause any damage or be used as an attack but it could paralyze anything it touches. It was useful for restraining the opponent. Lee mastered all three techniques easily. Sora had already learned the techniques, but they weren't as good as Lee's. Their father concluded by telling Lee that these three attacks were the founding principles of KI use. They were also the first Ki attacks ever developed and any good martial artist would know them. Lee remembered at one of his dad's tournaments that was an invitational only, that he saw a whole bunch of lights shooting back and forth, at first, he had thought that it was just a light show because he was only 6 at the time but later, his dad explained that it was an attack using energy.

After the week of nothing but training, there was only three days left until they had to go back to school. Also, Sora had to leave the next day because he had to drive back to college in his car. He could just teleport there but he needed his car there for other reasons so he needed the time to drive. They were all both anxious and dreading to get off the ship. On the one hand, they could breath fresh air again. But on the other hand, they would have to start school again. They all felt like it was too short of a vacation.

Over breakfast, the analysis team told them that today had a high chance of a Saren Stone activating. They were able to get non-locatable readings from the stones, even when they weren't active with the magic they are always releasing. They could measure these pulses and tell roughly when a stone had a good chance of activating. Today. There was a stone with a particularly high reading so they were told to be on stand-by level 2. They all were told what each level meant when they agreed to live on the ship. Level 2 stand-by meant that they needed to be battle ready and prepare to launch at anytime in a minute or less. The only thing higher was Level one where they would actually be waiting on the teleport pad waiting for immediate transited to the battle sight. This level also required all personnel leaving the ship to be in battle condition at all times, this included the four selected for the next mission, Chrono, Sakura, Sarah, and Nanoha to all be in their transformed state until sortie or the warning was lifted. Lance would also be going as a Barrier support only. Lee and Sora, who had gotten all the action last time, were going to stay behind and watch.

The time they had to prepare wasn't long. An hour later, they had found positive Saren stone confirmation. All five of them teleported at once and found themselves high in the sky, above the clouds. Chrono flew quickly below the clouds to see where they were. Below him, he saw a huge shrine on top of a mountain. Then he saw that the bottom of the mountain there was a city. He knew exactly where they were. He flew back up to them and said, "Guy's, were over Kanto and that big shrine is below us so try to avoid damage going down. It wouldn't feel right to damage a shrine, even if we could replace it with magic." Everyone knew why Chrono was saying this. Anyone who had ever been to Japan knew that the people of Kanto where very spiritual people who took almost anything as a sign from the gods. They would probably do something drastic if some unknown force came down and blew up a shrine. Lance said he would put extra protection in that area for safety.

As soon as he barrier was up, four black blobs came up from the clouds and appeared before them. Each one then made a mirror in front of them. Each of the four mages not including Lance saw their own reflection in the mirror. Suddenly, the blobs went in the back of the mirror and to their surprise, their reflections came out of the mirror. Now in front of each of them, they saw a black shaded version of themselves. They even copied their barrier jackets and staffs. They all prepared to fight their double gangers. They all launched at once. Sarah was the first to attack. She shot her **PIERCING LIGHTS **at it. To her surprise, shadow-Sarah also launched a **PIERCING LIGHTS **attack. She shot down most of Sarah's and got a few through, but Sarah also managed to get some through to the enemy. Just when they were about to hit, Sarah activated Stage two, **BLIND DESTRUCTION**. And they blew up in the shadows face. Unfortunately, just before the explosion, the shadow also activated stage two and Sarah got caught in a blast of her own. The two explosions created on big dust cloud that each of them could see.

Sakura was also having trouble. She was in a sort of Mind battle with her shadow. She had used her new attack, "**PLATNIUM SHIFT, GENOCIDE STYLE."** It reminded Lee of Fate's **PHOTON LANCER."** There were a few differences though. Sarah could create a hell of a lot more. There were easily at least 10,000 tiny baseball sized spheres of magic up in the air all belonging to normal Sakura. The second was that they weren't arrows like Fate's and the third difference was that Sakura could control them all individually, all 10,000 of them. She was in a **PLATNIUM SHIFT **battle with her other self. They were sending them out all at once, making each on counter another one precisely. No one, even those on the ship could fathom how Sakura was able to control that many attacks at once and do it multiple times in a row no less. The most that John could do was a few hundred, maybe a thousand if he was trying as much as possible in a non stressful environment but 10,000 was ludicrous in the heat of battle. They had to give Sakura credit because after the third wave of 10,000, she started to overwhelm her shadow and were getting some extras through. No matter how good of a replica it was, there wasn't anyway that it could keep up with that type of concentration, especially if it was something without its own brain. Unfortunately, Shadow-Sakura changed her strategy and shot her **SCARLET FURY BUSTER**, which broke straight through all of Sakura's weaker magic blasts and made a direct hit.

Chrono wasn't fairing that good either. He was in a close combat competition with his shadow. He was using his MWD in the form of a Sword and then he changed it into the handgun. These were two of the three weapons that John told Chrono were best suited for him. Each time being countered by the same weapon from his shadow. Next, he tried something new and original. He made it turn into a giant Shurikin (Japanese throwing stars). He already had this idea in his head but decided to test it. He thought that if he could control his magic, even from a distance, then he should be able to control any of his weapons like that too, as they were mostly made up of his magic. He was right; jut by concentrating, he could make the thing spin wildly. He waited until he got it spinning so fast that a small whirlwind started to form around it. He then threw it hard at the enemy, who made the same weapon and threw it as well. Chrono dodged his by making his veer up, then go down and over the shadows. Then it cut straight through his shadow. Unfortunately, the shadow just regenerated and what was more, his attack was still coming. Chrono blocked it but still received a lot of damage.

Nanoha was probably fairing the best out of all of them. She was in a constant mid-range fight with her shadow. Due to this, their attacks were colliding in mid-air but Nanoha had been able to avoid them all. She even got a hit with her **DIVINE BUSTER** at close range near the beginning and blew its legs off. Though it just regenerated and they continued the fight. Currently, they were in a battle of **AXCEL SHOOTERS**. They each had eight sturdy, blindingly fast spheres of magic butting heads. The weird thing with this attack was that unlike a normal attack where they would just disappear after contact, these ones just seemed to smash into each other, then bounce back out and flew around again at their controllers command until they hit another one.

Back on the ARTIMIS, The entire crew seemed to be glued to the nearest screen, watching the four battles, which had been broken up into four windows so that each battle was on its own screen. They were watching it not as a battle for the stone but more like a tournament. It was exciting, like a battle royal on television. Even John was enjoying the battle. Though it did look like their side was losing and thet worried him. He knew he couldn't send Sarah or Lee in for a few reasons. One was that if Lee went, it would probably turn into _another _overkill situation and John knew better than anybody that a giant explosion in the sky above Kanto was the worst possible thing that could happen in Japan, especially if it damaged the below shrine. Also, He couldn't send them in because he knew none of them would thank him for it, especially after the effort they were putting in. He just hoped that they would figure out what to do quickly.

Back on the battlefield, Chrono's fight had turned into a high-speed bout with long swords. With the different boosts in magic he got for being transformed and using the MWD, he was as fast as Lee in the air. To anyone watching, it was a blur as the ships video cameras couldn't keep up with it. Suddenly, a dodged blast of red magic came hurdling at Chrono. By instinct, he changed his staff into his most powerful mode, **FSD mode** (which could be used for normal spells), and fired off a super-powered **CRASH SHOT **at Shadow Sakura, who had fired it. The Shadow had not expected this and got blasted full force with the attack. By moving so suddenly, Chrono dodged a magic bullet fired off by Shadow-Chrono and it went towards Sakura, who retaliated with a **CRIMSON SHOOTER** that flew straight at Chrono's shadow and caught it off guard as well. It made a solid impact. This sparked an idea in both of their heads.

They opened a telepathic line between all four of them. "_Sarah, Nanoha, can you hear me?"_ said Chrono. "_Loud and clear,"_ they both answered. "_We have an idea,"_ said Sakura. "_What is it,"_ said Nanoha. "_Switch opponents to the one your good against,"_ said Chrono. Sakura then said, "_We attacked each others shadow and they didn't know what hit them. I think there only good over the person they copy."_ "_That's smart thinking," _said Lance, joining the conversation. Lance continued, "_I think I can help you. I can hold them in place long enough for you guys to switch so the other one doesn't follow you and you end up in a two on one."_ They all agreed to the plan.

They started off by firing an attack at their opponents. When the shadows blocked, Lance moved in with a powerful binding spell called **STRUGGLE BIND**. When they were held in place, all four of them quickly teleported in unison, each taking the spot of the one they decided to fight. Now the new line up was as follows:

Sarah – S. Nanoha: a good decision as the concentrated fire mage Nanoha is weak against wide area attacks.

Nanoha – S. Sakura: A good decision as Sakura has a hard time against single high power attacks, plus out of the remaining, is the best at long range.

Chrono – S. Sarah: A good decision as Chrono can out maneuver Sarah's wide area attacks and go in for the kill.

Sakura – S. Chrono: A good decision as Long range attacks are a close-range mage's worst nightmare and Chrono is weak against Omni-directional attacks.

They all prepared to fight their new opponents. Sarah again was the first one up. She started at the Nanoha Shadow with her **BLAZING DESTINY** attack. The Nanoha shadow tried to use her **DIVINE BUSTER, **but the powerful sphere tears right through the cheap imitation and makes a square hit. Unfortunately, the shadow just regenerated and retaliated with another **DIVINE BUSTER.** Sarah dodged it easily and flew straight up. Then she stopped and a big white magic circle appeared under her. Then she held her staff straight out to her side. **HBD standing by,**" said Blazing Destiny. "**Holy Blade Driver, IGNITION START!"** Her staff instantly changed into a short sword with blade of pure white and a hilt of silver. Then she aimed the sword straight at her opponent. Then a Giant White cross-appeared perpendicular at the tip of the sword. She aimed it straight at the Shadow Nanoha. She positioned herself to launch. Then a pair of large white magic wings appeared on her shoes. They were glowing brightly. A large white circle appeared behind Sakura. "**FLASH CROSS, **_**GO!!!**_**"** She launched so fast that she made a sonic boom echo all throughout the inside of the barrier. She launched straight at the shadow, Sword pointed out in front of her with the cross at the head. Sarah drove straight through the shadow, which broke into four pieces and thanks to the HBD's special ability, the shadow could not regenerate. Then Sarah flew back and charged up for one final attack. She changed her staff into shooting mode and made three large white circular spell ribbons appear in front of her staff. Then a huge sphere of white magical energy appeared in front of her, in the middle of the three rings. "**DESTINY BREAKER, **_**FIRE!!!"**_ A huge wave of White magical energy shot out and straight at the now quarter-cut shadow Nanoha. It made a direct hit and blew the entire thing out of existence. Then, out of the dust cloud from the explosion, a small blue shard came flying at Sarah, who caught it. She thought it as a Saren Stone but upon closer examination, it was too small to be one. She pocketed it and flew over to help her friends.

At the same time as Sarah was fighting, the other three were still fighting. Their fights had now broken them up so they were a few Kilometers away apiece. Nanoha was fighting S. Sakura, who was firing numerous small attacks at her. She blocked them easily and fired her **DIVINE BUSTER** multiple times, each one making its mark and easily breaking through the onslaught of mini attacks. Unfortunately, the Shadow just recovered. Nanoha now was getting flustered. She then fired her **AXCEL SHOOTER** at the shadow Sakura who shot them down with 10 blasts a piece. Nanoha decided it was time to end it. She rarely used this attack at full power but the situation called for it. She flew high up into the air. "**EXCELION MODE!"** A large pink magic circle appeared under her and her staff changes. The main body became longer and the head became a golden triangular spear point with two points very close to each other with enough space for a thin point in between them. There were two golden wings in the side and two on the center top. "**BLASTER SYSTEM, activate BLASTER 1."** Raging heart confirmed, "BLASTER 1 Limit, released." Suddenly, everyone in the vicinity felt a surge of power and then they all felt Nanoha's power skyrocket. It was at least twice as powerful as before. "_LANCE," _Nanoha yelled at Lance mentally. Lance didn't need more then that to know what she was saying. **"STEEL BARRIER, LEVEL 3."** Now a second barrier appeared inside the first one. "_Nanoha, I can only hold this for about 5 minutes. I have already used up most of my magic power withstanding all of your attacks on the first barrier and the one Sarah just did. Don't delay."_ Nanoha got the message and decided to do this quick. She flew high above the Shadow Sakura. Then she pointed her staff at her and three HUGE magical rings appeared in front of it. Then a Huge city block sized Magical circle appeared under her. Then a gigantic sphere of magic appeared in the three rings. It was huge. It had to be at least 50 meters wide. "**STARLIGHT,"** the sphere started to glow intensely as magic seamed to be collected around it, "_**BREAKER!!!"**_It fired a HUGE WAVE OF MAGICAL ENERGY. It shot straight down at the Shadow Sakura and passed through it like it was wet tissue. It disintegrated into nothingness; not even an ash was left. Just before it hit the barrier, Lance placed a triple shield system across where it would hit. It defended against the attack just enough to keep it from breaking the barrier.

During Nanoha's attack, someone on the ship was analyzing it. Then one of the mages analyzing it yelled out, "Holy cow, it spiked 1.5 billion in its power level reading, getting final reading. 1.95 billion. Whoa, another super mage; hope she doesn't destroy the ship." Lee, Sora and John were all shocked. They all knew that Nanoha was strong but not that strong. John made a mental note to ask her about it when she got back onto the ship. They watched on the screen as Nanoha collected a small blue fragment.

During everyone else's battle, Chrono was fighting the Sarah shadow. He was easily avoiding her slower wide range attacks and was able to confront her evenly at close range. Chrono figured out that without all the sword training and the Ki and stuff, the Sarah shadow wasn't in any way more than average with a sword. All it had was the bonus it got from the HBD mode. Chrono could easily counteract that with his MWD mode. For a change of pace, he fired a **BLUE INFERNO CANNON**.It made a solid hit and blasted the shadow Sakura to smithereens. Unfortunately, those smithereens reformed into Shadow Sakura who tried to hit him with its **DESTINY BREAKER.** Chrono then remembered the flip mode thing he learned from John. He decided to try it out. "**MWD, FLIP MODE, IRON KNUCKLE!**" His staff changed into a iron gauntlet on his right hand. Also, something he hadn't noticed before was that he felt a giant boost, at least 3 times stronger and faster than the boost from the regular MWD mode. He felt himself zoom through the air straight at the shadow. "**CRASH SHOT V2!"** He felt a lot of magic gather in the gauntlet. He punched the gauntlet into Shadow Sakura and he shot the magic inside the gauntlet in one big blast. The result being that he sent the shadow flying on a single blast of magic 50 yards back. Chrono beat the blast to the destination with his new super speed and decided to go for an old fashion punch. He was surprised when he punched it at full force and sent it flying double the distance that it had just traveled on the blast. He wondered if he could pick up a car with his new super strength and resolved to try it out sometime. He then used **FLASH MOVE** a move Nanoha taught him a while back to help with his used to be lack of speed and rocketed at, if possible, an even faster speed to get behind where the shadow was heading. The shadow regained its composure before it got there though so it stopped a few yards in front of Chrono. Chrono then shot his **REVOLVER** at it and sent it flying. "Try DRAGON CRASH." BLACK FALCON sent the instructions to his head and Chrono liked the idea and decided to go with it. He started to gather magic in the gauntlet. The gears near the wrist started spinning like crazy. For a second, Chrono thought he heard a roar coming from his wrist. Then two wings appeared on his shoes. He flew at a supersonic speed, creating another sonic boom and stopped a bit above the shadow. He then shot down a strand of Blue magic energy that tied itself around the shadow, restricting its movements. "**DRAGON,"** Chrono pulled up, yanking the now helpless shadow upwards speeding towards him. His right fist was now leaking magic out, like steam out of a dragon's mouth. Then his entire fist was surrounded in a bright blue aura that took the shape of a dragon's head. "_**CRASH!!!"**_ He did a solid punch right into the shadows stomach so hard; it created a shockwave felt by anyone in the vicinity. At the same time, a bright blue flare of magic energy flared out of the gauntlet while still punching the shadow. The shadow disintegrated before it ever reached the barriers bottom. He then saw a tiny blue shard fly out. It was too small to be a Saren Stone so Chrono caught it and pocketed it instead. He decided to fly over to see how the others were.

Sakura's battle was by far the longest. She was fighting Chrono. Though she was good at aiming and long distance attacks, it was hard for her to contend with Chrono's speed. "**RESRICTION CHAINS!**" She caught him with some if her magic chains, keeping him in place. "**BLOODY SNIPER**" She fired a very small thread beam of magic at Chrono from almost a kilometer away, as she was keeping her distance. It hit it straight in and when it made contact, it turned into a large wave of magical energy. The shadow then shot a **CRASH SHOT** but it never even reached her. It then closed in fast. Sakura could only block as it came in fro a onslaught of close range barrages. Nanoha had taught her a good combo defense-attack for these kinds of cases. "**PROTECTION"** A barrier shield appeared in front of her to defend her against shadow Chrono's melee attacks. "**BARRIER BURST!"** The barrier exploded in Chrono's shadows direction, sending it flying backs a distance. This gave her ample time to teleport to a safe distance. Then she remembered her new flip form for her shooting style. "**SHOOTING STYLE, FLIP MODE, MAGNUM ASSULT CANNON.**" Her staff disappeared and turned into a large, oversized assault rifle-like cannon. Two legs from the middle supported it. They were on a magic circle acting as a ground for support. It had a small cannon looking barrel at the end with four spikes coming out perpendicular to the barrel. It had a trigger a quarter of the way down the body to fire with. It also had a zooming accuracy scope. She put her eye to it and rested her head there on the chin support. She put her other hand inside an opening that let her rotate the oversized assault rifle and feed it magic. She aimed the cannon at shadow Chrono. "**CRIMSON BIND" **the Shadow was stuck in a bind, not able to move. "Try **GRAVITY CANNON.**" Suddenly, magic started gathering in the cannons barrel. The strange thing was, it felt much more potent then normal. She remembered John saying something to her about this mode being able to super compress her magic. She felt the power storing up in the barrel. Another red magic circle appeared at the opening of the Cannon. Then, on the side, two plates opened up and small amounts of magic flared out to not overheat the cannon. Sarah felt like it was ready. Farther away, once again everyone felt a large magic, this time from Sakura. It was skyrocketing like crazy, almost unreal. She aimed her Cannon directly at Lee. It was a long shot, literally as she, according to CERENITY, was about 1.5 Kilometers away from the Shadow but this form was meant for heavy long range. She used the zoom scope to aim it right at the shadow. "**GRAVITY CANNON, **_**FIRE!!!**_**"** She pulled the trigger and a HUGE wave of Magical energy blasted out of the barrel. It was at least 40 meters across, shooting straight at Shadow-Chrono. It was so powerful that, even with it stationed into the magic circle, Sakura still felt some kick back from firing it. It was a perfect hit. The shadow had broken free and tried to put up a barrier but it just broke to pieces as the blast hit it. The shadow disintegrated as the wave blasted through it. Lance had to use up the last of his magic to make sure the outer barrier didn't break. The inner one he had made was shattered easily. Sakura went and collected a small blue fragment. Then she headed towards her friends to see how they were.

Sarah had to go and catch Lance quickly before he fell. The barrier disappeared right after Sakura's final attack and Lance had fainted from using too much magic. Sarah flew down and dragged him back up. Nanoha was standing on her magic circle she created, to tired to fly along with Chrono. Sarah deposited Lance onto the circle. Sarah, who had finished her fight a bit ago had Nanoha transfer some of her magic into Lance, who then woke up. "Sorry, did something happen, anyone notice?" Nanoha shook her head and said, "Don't worry, you held out long enough so no one would notice a thing, but just barley. You fainted on spot and started falling like a rock. Thank Sarah for saving you." He did and Sarah said it wasn't nearly as big a deal as what Lance had to have been doing. He had to be protecting the barrier and withstanding every single one of their attacks, and there had been quite a few big ones. It really showed them how impenetrable Lance's defense was. "And now you see the reason why I told you I had trouble defeating him in a match. I only managed to once. And then he wasn't supporting a huge 10 km barrier, or withstanding a total of 8 mage attacks, just mine so his barriers were much thicker and pretty much invincible," said Nanoha. Sakura had arrived mid-story. They were all in awe. Not that they didn't appreciate Lance's abilities, it was just that they didn't know how good he was until now.

"Okay," said Sarah, "Now we defeated the monsters the Saren Stone spawned, so where is the Saren Stone. I got this," she took out the minute blue shard, "but it is way too small to be a Saren stone and not the right color. Saren stones were white, not blue. Everyone else took out their blue shard, confirming that they had all gotten one. Lance looked at them for a second, and then said, "Ah, I know. Give me the shards." They all handed him their shards and Lance took them in one hand. He then closed his hand and gathered a bit of magic in it. When he opened his hand again, there weren't four, but one large white Saren Stone. "Nanoha, if you please." Nanoha changed her staff into sealing mode. Lance threw the stone up. "**SEALING."** Nanoha shot a small pink thread at the Saren stone, which made contact. "Saren Stone, 14, SEALED," said Raging Heart. Now that they had taken care of getting the stone, they told the ship to bring them up "lest they collapse." It was a good thing they did teleport them quickly as all four of them collapsed as soon as they were teleported. Lee, John and Sora, along with two other mages picked them up and brought them to the infirmary.


	26. Last Moment fun

The Haruno Chronicles

Ch. 26. Nice fun short chapter. Lee saves the day again, nothing unusual. All he did was pilot a space cruiser. Also, we get a new "_teammate,"_ but this one has an attitude problem that even got on Johns nerves.

Disclaimer: Everything, material, characters, locations ect… are property of the respective people.

Chapter 26 – Last Moment Fun

When they woke up next, Lance, Sakura, Nanoha, Sarah, and Chrono were in the medical bay on beds. They had fainted from exhaustion as soon as they had gotten onto the ship. "Hey there," said Lee. They all sat up, feeling as good as new. "This is what I would call a clean battle," said John. They looked at him and he continued, "None of you got any major injuries. There was a bruise her, scratch there, amputated legs, that stuff, nothing serious." They all laughed a bit, then John asked, "except for you, Nanoha, you suffered from a bit of magic overload, nothing that could harm you but if you had gone further, there would have been something to show for it." Nanoha replied, "Yes, I already know. I was expecting that to happen when I activated the Blaster System." John then took out a tablet with the data. "And now for your Battle analysis. I just like reading these things, never know until it's done. And I am proud to say that all of you have exceeded the 1.5 billion mark. That is the sign for a mage being a SSS+, which as of now is your record rank. Now lets see what we have here for the stats. For my only daughter, we have a 1.5 even Breaker rating; not bad for a 12 year old. For Nanoha, you exceeded Lee's last combination attack with your Breaker at 1.85. I have to admit, that even impresses me. After this, I would like to hear it in detail. Now for Mr. Chrono, for him, we got a reading of a whole 1.55 billion with a personal bonus for bone shattering and creating shockwaves. And for Sakura, we have a nice 1.65, due to her new cannons super compression ability. Also, I would like to give Lance the anywhere's best defense person. I don't think even I could have made a double barrier able to withstand these numbers for as long as you did, even if you did faint afterwards. Good for you."

They talked about the battle for a bit. Each of them said is was sort of fun and agitating to face themselves and each other when they could regenerate and stuff. Lee and Sora had already planned a line for this, "Well, at least we now know that you can beat each other up if need be." This earned him a playful punch from Chrono, which Lee blocked. Then they all laughed and went to the room. Sora was going to be leaving the ship tomorrow and due to other circumstances; they would all be going back home tomorrow. Unfortunately, the area where John had told their parents they would be camping was going to have a large thunderstorm tomorrow and he didn't want to worry the parents. And so, he had called them in advance about an hour ago saying they would be home tomorrow due to bad weather. It might actually be better this way in John's head because then they can get set for school easier.

They used the last hours of their final day to play a few games and to use the training room a last time. It wasn't going to be the last time they were on the ship though, as they would be parking it in a T.S.B.A. docking station John had built on earth when he first got this ship in secret inside a local hill in the park. The ship would go under-ground using the ships proto-type SDP or Short Distance Portal. It allowed the ship to make a small portal based on a portal users magic to move short distances within a single dimension. They would use it to enter the underground hanger from outer space.

Sarah got this giant urge to play Hide and go Seek in their dad's apartment room. They decided to go along with it. No mater how smart, Sarah was still 12 and liked to play hide and go seek, and it would be fun in such a large place. Lee, who hated to lose, decided to be sneaky. He decided to hide in his Dad's secret control room. It was sort of cheating because he was the only one able to actually get in there but then again, he hated losing more than cheating to his sister. He entered and sat by the computer. He decided to see where everyone was hiding so he turned on the computer and logged in with his General Level Pilot administrator account. He then accessed the camera system for his dad's room. He looked through the different Camera's until he found them. Sora was in his dad's Walk-in closet in-between the racks. His sister was hiding in the kitchen closet. Sakura was hiding in the closet in Sora's room. Nanoha and Lance were under Lee's bed and Chrono was looking for them all because he was chosen to be it by rock-paper-scissors. He was currently searching the two guest rooms. He enjoyed watching them all get found, one by one. Sarah was the last to be found besides himself. Lee then hurriedly exited the computer and ran to the large storage compartment under the desk in the office. He only had to wait a few minutes for them to lift up the overhead entrance. Lee had been declared the winner for being found last, though Chrono was sure that no one was in here or had entered the office at all. Lee just said he didn't look hard enough.

They ate a lot that night as this was going to be the last dinner they would have on the ARTIMIS for a while. They then used the training room for some last minute practice, though most of them were to tired to. It really turned into an Exhibition Katana match between Lee and Sora. John even found time to be the referee. They all went to bed early except for Lee and Sora who stayed up till 11 sparring. They had a single 2½-hour match, which resulted in a draw when Sora pointed out that they really should go to sleep. They had to get up at 9 tomorrow, an hour before what they had been getting up at because it was a 3 hour trip home due to the fact they needed the car and they needed to get home by three so that he had enough time to get ready for his drive tomorrow. Though they would be landing 2 minutes away from their house in the ARTIMIS as it docked, they still needed to arrive by car. They went to sleep around 11:30.

They woke up the next day at 9 exactly due to some annoying alarm clocks that wouldn't turn off until you got out of the beds. John had probably placed them their when they were asleep. They all went down stairs to see that Amy was in their kitchen. She had got in the mood to cook and asked John if she could cook their breakfast as a sort of send off for the last two weeks. She made every breakfast imaginable, and some that weren't (remember, Amy is NOT from earth.) They ate a huge breakfast and then went to pack their stuff. It was 11 when they were done packing. They were going to hang out at the Bridge to see the first test use of the ships proto-type SDP. They headed to the Bridge to see every station filled. John was in the captain's chair and they were preparing to fire the portal beam. They got confirmation that they were ready at the new hanger. Earth T.S.B.A. members were operating it until they got there.

"Power up the SDP," said John. "SPD, powering up," said one of the mages at a station working in the portal. "SPD, ready for use." "Fire Portal beam." In front of the ship, a white beam of energy fired and a giant white magic circle, much bigger than the ship appeared in front of them. It felt like looking through a window, like Sakura's portals. On the other side, they saw a hanger that looked like the one at Bureau headquarters. "We have confirmation from the hanger that the portal has connected. Proce-," Suddenly, the bridge went dark. "What's happening?" said John. "Sir, I have confirmation that the eclectic cords for the bridge were mixed up on a final check-up. We can repair it but it will take too long. The ship is currently drifting towards the portal at an incorrect angle. At this rate, we will destroy the hanger on entry." John's eyes widened, It was under a city park with innocent people. If the hanger was destroyed, the ground under the park would collapse and would take the people with it.

He wasn't sure what to do but Lee already had an idea. He ran out of the door; Lance and the others followed Lee. "Where are you going," said Lance, "We need to help with this." Lee answered, "I am helping, no time to talk." He ran to his Dad's room. The rest of the ships power was working fine. He entered through the office entrance. "How can you help from here?" asked Sora. Lee wasn't listening. He walked over to the desk and lifted up the nameplate. He pressed the button and the door to the secret control room appeared. He placed his hand on the panel that appeared and the door opened. They all went inside and saw with surprise the secret control room. Lee sat down in front of the computer immediately and logged himself in with administrators piloting rights. The system accepted the log in and Lee activated Level S control Level. This room now controlled all ship functions. Then a Steering wheel and all the controls like the one near the captain chair appeared around him. The large screen in front of him now was showing the view from the window at the bridge.

He then made a connection with his Dad's device. Back at the Bridge, John took out raging fury and a window appeared with Lee in it. Lee said to his dad, "Don't worry, I think I can land it from here." John needed a second to figure out what Lee was doing but he figured it out after pondering and replied, "Don't worry, I sure you can." He closed the line and said to the bridge, "Don't worry, everything is going to be fine."

Lee's controls had finally been connected. He took the wheel and turned it a bit to bring the ship back on course. As he did, everyone in the control room felt the ship turn, as well as the people at the bridge. He then signaled to the hanger, "Pilot Lee, General rank authority on General Private Battle Ship, ARTIMIS, do I have confirmation." He got a response from the base, "We have confirmation from base system; Pilot Lee Cross has been confirmed." Lee then replied, "Were coming in. Please evacuate the immediate landing space and prepare for docking." "Acknowledged." Lee then refocused on the controls. He then powered down the main thrusters and activated the Hover engines and primary thrusters. The controls around him changed. The throttle and the stuff around it disappeared and were replaced by a series of switches and an altitude lever for the hover engines. He then activated the secondary reverse thrusters that appeared below the two points in the front. He gave them a bit of juice to slow the ship down some more. They were now entering the portal. It was weird, even inside the ship. You could sort of feel yourself in the middle when passing through the portal slowly. When the ship was fully through, Lee de-activated the SDP and the portal disappeared. Then he moved forward slowly with the primary thrusters until they were at the docking station. Then he used the secondary thrusters to come to a complete stop above the docking station. He then made the secondary thrusters turn 90˚ and gave them some power. The ship started turning in mid-air. He made it turn 180˚ so that the front was now aiming at the exit ramp they had entered from. He then slowly powered down the hover engines to make the ship hover down slowly to the docking station. There was a small thump that told them they had touched ground. Lee then turned off all engines and returned main control to the bridge, which was now fixed. He then logged out and the controls disappeared.

When he got up, his friends and siblings gathered around in admiration. Sora made a rhetorical comment, "Since when does my kid brother get the license to pilot an inter-dimensional battle cruiser before me." Chrono said, "And here I thought I would be the first between us to drive." Sakura was crying a bit from fright and hitting Lee lightly. They new that Sakura hated roller coaters and this was at least 5 times as extreme as that. Nanoha was surprisingly cool, but to their understanding, she had been on a ship before, same for Lance. Still, both of them told him how impressively he handled the ship. Sarah went and hugged her brother.

When they exited the secret control room, John was waiting for them in his office. "Lee, everyone on this ship, in the hanger and the park owes you big time." After the serious comment, he went over to Lee and patted him on the head. "MAN, are you a life-saver. Do you know how much grief I would get from Allen if I brought this thing in all scratched and banged up? He would have my hide before the treasury department could get to me. But seriously, that was some smooth thinking, using this room to land the ship. We really would have crashed if you hadn't moved when you did. But, more than I am proud of you, I am ashamed of myself for not getting here first." They walked out of the office and to the exit dock. They exited into the hanger where a team of about ten mages was waiting for them. In the front, they saw someone about Lee's age. They walked to the elevator and went down to the main floor where the group was waiting for them.

They first all lined up and saluted, then said in unison, "Good afternoon, General Cross." Then the kid walked up, "Special Cases Officer, Andy Santo, 1st rank, second division, category: unlimited. Lee and the rest all looked confused so John said mentally, "_The overly long title basically means that he has as much authority as a Captain Commander except his authority reigns over all of the 13 sections, unlike Amy who is limited to section 5."_ This gave them a clearer picture of his authority. Lee decided to be friendly and said, "Hello Andy." Andy gave him a menacing glare. "And who are you. You shall address me as Officer Santo. And what is with the attire, you should be in uniform at all times while with your general. You need to be whipped into shape." Andy then looked at John, "Sir, if you please, I can whip him into shape for you, as previous second-head of the code authority division." He took out a wooden cane and pointed it at Lee. It happened before he even realized that he was gone. Lee was now right next to Andy with a metal katana at his throat. Then, the wooden cane broke into a dozen pieces and fell to the ground. As soon as he realized what had happened, Andy jumped back and said, "What the devil. How the hell did you do that, and without a device? I am a AAA ranked Mage and I don't even know that one." John intervened, "Okay, enough with the school yard fight." Then he looked at Andy, "And more for your safety than anything, I am going to tell you that apart from him having the most authority of anyone here as being the most powerful residential mage of this planet and NOT part of the T.S.A.B., he happens to be my son and is a SSS+ ranked mage. He is also a master of one of this planets most accomplished martial arts. I do not recommend getting on his bad side. I can't guarantee your safety if he is in the picture." He said it with such a serious, movie guy like tone that, except for Andy who was scared stiff everyone knew he was joking. After a moment of silence, everyone burst out laughing their gut out. Andy figured out the joke after a few seconds. "Ah, a joke. Good one General, got me there for a second. A SSS+ mage, that's a good one." John then said, "No, that part, along with anything apart from your safety is all true. Lee, along with his group of underage-," "AHEM," said Sora. ""Ah yes, my mistake. Lee, along with the group of underage AND ONE OVERAGE friends and or siblings is a SSS+, and three, including Lee could probably kill you before you saw the blade. Heck, I could kill you before you realized that I moved." He started Laughing hard again along with everyone else in the vicinity.

"Okay, now that I have been publicly humiliated, can we proceed? I am to understand it that you have requested the services of all mages currently stationed on earth, specifically those in the island Nation of Japan and have personally requested my presence for this case." John said, "Yes, that is correct. I have asked the mages I placed here, along with you for your abnormal search analysis ability to gather here, which for the duration of this mission, will act as our headquarters. I am to take it you got the Mission briefing in the packet along with everyone here." They all nodded. "In the packet, it said that any and all direct confrontation with the class one lost logia would be done by a select of trusted mages appointed by the general that reside on this planet." John said that he was correct. "Then I would like to talk with these mages personally to ascertain their skills and see if they are really trustworthy." John smiled and said, "The 'specialists' as you call them are those guys," He pointed a thumb behind him at Lee and co., "are those 7 over there. But it unfortunately will only be six after tomorrow, as one has to go back to college outside of Japan's mainland. But these six will be plenty, though we lost one of the good sealers on the team. But we still got Lee and Nanoha and Lance if it really comes to that. We will be fine."

Andy didn't look at all convinced but continued, "Moving on now, along the list of names, there was a Nanoha Takamachi and Lance Scrya. I am to take it these are the same ones from the Energy Wave incident five years ago." Nanoha and Lance nodded in confirmation. "Well," he looked at Lee, "At least there is two good mages on the team. But unfortunately, by my current information, I can tell that the rest of them need work, at least on their manners. As far as ability, it will do. I guess." Lee had already made a Ki wooden Katana. As this type of Katana couldn't kill a person, he was about to give the guy a good beating. In the next second, 4 things happened. First, simultaneously, without communication, all three Cross children charged at Andy with wooden Ki swords, holding them to his throat. The second was Sakura and Chrono, each doing a half release and Chrono did a **FLASH MOVE**. Now they both had their weapons, Sakura's staff shooting mode and charged and Chrono's MWD in handgun mode, pointed at Andy from behind him, opposite Sakura. The third thing was John who had his Katana out, blocking all three of his children's from moving and he had an orb of magic at each of Sakura's and Chrono's throats, ready to strike and the fourth thing that happened last was _four_ slash marks across Andy's uniform, each creating a cut.

Andy was in a deadlock position. Suddenly, John did two things. The first was he made his orbs disappear, freeing Sakura and Chrono. The next thing was that he tapped each of the Ki wood katanas with his finger. He then pushed a weird pulse of his own Ki into them, dispelling them. Then he dispelled his metal one. Then he said, "Okay, really. The second I get home and were already fighting. I think this is a little childish," he was looking at Lee, Sarah, Sora, Sakura and Chrono. Then he looked at Andy, "And as for you. First of all, I expected better from a Bureau officer. And secondly, I will not let you off so lightly next time if you insult my children of their friends again." Suddenly, Andy's clothes fell into pieces. Underneath his clothes, Lee noticed 7 slash bruises. Andy then fell down in pain. "Your lucky that Lee got there. If he hadn't been there, you would be the hospital right now." Andy got up, sore as hell, and limped away. He repeatedly apologized to John on his way out.

Andy walked into the main office and sat down, flustered by what had happened. Then he decided to check on something. He brought up the security footage of the last hour. Then he narrowed it down to the incident. He looked at it. Normal speed, it was too fast to get any clear visual. "OKUNINUSHI," he said, taking out a metal card that looked like the Ace of Spades, "Slow this visual down by 16x." "YES SIR," said the card, the spade in the middle glowing as it answered. Another screen appeared in front of Andy. The same video segment showed, but slower. Now, he could see Chrono and Sakura point out their weapons, but he still only saw blur's for the Cross's. Then he had his device slow it down 100x. Another screen replaced the current screen and the video played. He could now see the Cross's movements, though they looked only like they were walking, unlike everyone else who looked motionless. What he saw surprised him. There were two things he didn't notice when it actually happened. The first was Nanoha. She looked like she was doing nothing from the angle Andy saw it from, but a camera view from behind showed her gathering up quite a bit of magic for one of her attacks, **DIVINE SHOOTER**. The second was Lee's position. At first glance, it looked like he was about to cut his throat off. But looking closer, he saw that its blade was pointed the wrong way and his arm was pointed in the wrong direction. Upon even closer inspection of the freeze frame, Andy could see that Lee's sword was actually holding his dad's sword, and indirectly Sora, and Sarah's swords, from moving. Andy didn't have the faintest clue why, but as he saw it, it looked like Lee was protecting him, not trying to attack him. Upon slowing it down to the computers maximum, 300x, Andy also saw that John was the first to move and Lee had been the last to move. Before Lee had got there, Sora had slashed him twice, Sarah had slashed him twice and John slashed him three times. He told OKUNINUSHI to save this and made a mental note to apologize to Lee when he saw him again.

John had teleported them to the car in the lot and they were currently on there way home. During the ride, Chrono said to John, "So why did you stop us? TO me, it looked like you were about to pounce as well." John answered, "I did pounce, and I only got three hits in before Lee stopped us. I only stopped you because it would be less trouble if I did it then if you did it." Chrono looked at Lee, "You stopped them; why?" Lee looked at him and answered, "Because I didn't learn how to use a sword as a means to take out my anger." John looked at his son. "I should feel ashamed. Out-virtued by my own son, I shouldn't call myself a father." Lee looked at his father and said, "Don't worry, if that was true, we would be discredited. It wasn't like I did nothing, it was just that it didn't want you fighting my battles." John then got a visual mentally of what Lee did from Lee by magic. "That is rich Lee. I wish I could see it."

Back at the Hanger, Andy was going to the bathroom. He took a shower, washed off and dried. When he was done drying off, he went to the mirror to comb his hair. When he lifted his hair though, he saw that he had a bruise on his forehead. Upon closer inspection, he saw that it said "BAKA" (baka= idiot/stupid ect… in Japanese.) Andy broke the comb in frustration. "Forget the apology. I am going to kill that son of a-."


	27. Last Minute Fun

The Haruno Chronicles

Ch. 27 Do not mistake the title for the last chapter. That was "moment," and this one is "minute," so as you can see, they are nothing alike. As for the chapter. We see the true power of Lee's father. Well, ONE of his true powers as the mysteries of Ki are revealed. We also see our favorites go to the mall due to the boredom of having no HW. While there, there is betrayal, revenge, mediation, then more revenge on the mediator by the mediated which all ends in a hilarious prank.

Disclaimer: Everything, material, characters, locations ect… are property of the respective people.

Chapter 27 – Last Minute Fun

Everyone spent the last two days doing whatever they could do now that they couldn't do once school started. This included one full 24-hour day of non-stop sword training. Lee was now at a high Level of Ki mastery. It was at the point where he couldn't improve anymore without training the physical part up some. Lee thought he was at least close to his father in swordsman ship, but he found out the hard way how far he was from his father. Something he learned by accident, and to his surprise was that his dad had never actually gone full out, against anyone. When Lee saw that his father had 20 weights on, double the amount he had Lee and Sora on, Sarah was at 8 currently, he asked why he hadn't upped the amount of weights for them, he said because they wouldn't be able to handle it. Lee felt out of the loop and for no reason at all, he asked his father how strong he was. He said to come with him and find out.

Therefore, due to all of their interest, Lee, and Sarah (Sora left for collage) went with him out of town for a bit to a deserted area the Cross's owned on a mountain. "This area is the best for using Ki. It has a high Ki tolerance too so it won't do as much damage if we do it out here." They got out of the car and walked to a small open patch on the mountainside. Then, in front of him, Lance appeared. "Good Lance, you came. I couldn't do this without you." He asked Lee to put up a space barrier around the area and he did. Then he made a large ball of Ki, about the size of a tire, and threw it directly into the barrier. "What the-," Lance said as he got a funny feeling. Then the barrier started to give off a gold aura. "Don't worry, I just gave it some Ki protection. Even if they are different, you can still use them together." He then took off all of his training weights, all 20 of them. "Okay, before I start, I will explain exactly what I am doing. I am going to release all of my strength, especially the stored Ki all at once. Every few years when you are at my level, you need to do this so you don't go on power overload. If you store too much, you will ultimately explode from the pressure." Lee and Sarah nodded that they understood.

Lee and Sarah were anxious. They were curious about how strong their dad was. He then told them to stand back and watch. He released what he called his first of ten levels. A few cracks appeared under him and his muscles expanded a little. Next, he jumped to Level 3. A crater appeared below him and cracks appeared along the ground. They watched as he dug further. He then went up to his level 7. Now a tornado of his Ki was surrounding him. He was glowing and his eyes had turned white. "That's nothing," he said, "Watch when I hit the max." Lance was nervous now. His barrier was about to break under sheer force that wasn't made by magic and the guy could go farther. It just went to show that there were just certain things that couldn't be explained. John then went to Level 9. Suddenly the ground started to shake and the crater under him expanded to the edges of the barrier. His Ki tornado was now out of control. His muscles were now so big; they ripped through his shirt and disintegrated it. Lance's barrier started to crack. All of them, who had been on the ground, fell into the crater when it spread under them. Lee tried to stay where he was by flying but the gravity was too much to remain airborne so he dropped like a bullet. Lee walked over to Lance and started to assist him with the barrier. Though Lee had no skill with wide area barriers like this one, he was still able to support Lance by sending some of his magic to him, indirectly to the barrier, strengthening it. But there was a limit so they hoped that he didn't have too much more to go. He was already at least 4 times as strong as Lee was at max.

"Okay, I got to the half way point. Now lets go for the full." Lee, Sarah, and Lance's eyes widened. They all thought John was insane. He would probably sink Japan as is and he was at half. John then released his last limit. When he went to Level 10, there was a huge flash of light. Then they looked at John again. Everything cooled down at once. The quakes stopped, gravity returned to normal and the barrier no longer had any pressure. When they looked at John, he was totally different. He was now in a golden Gi (Japanese martial arts standard uniform). His hands had black gloves on them. His feet were bare and his hair had gone from brown to pitch black and got a bit longer, now down to his neck. "Okay, Level ten, reached." Lee and Sarah looked at their dad. "What happened to you? And what is with the hair?" John smiled and said, "This is what happens when I go all out. This is called ZENRYOKU ZENKAI STYLE form. While in this form, any and all power you possess instantly comes under your control. You also obviously gain abilities like strength and speed not possible for a normal human body. This form provides the highest level of power that a normal human can achieve. Also, you gain special Ki power as well. Watch." He asked Lee to come at him. He made a solid metal katana and infused it with as much Ki as possible. Then at full force with all the physical strength he could muster, both from magic and Ki, he charged at his father and thrust it straight at him. Before it ever made contact, the sword broke to a million pieces. "What the!" Lee said as the sword disintegrated. Then John walked over and flicked him on the head. Lee didn't know how, but he was launched 10 yards back FROM A FLICK. John then said, "This form is virtually untouchable to anyone below its level, though I am not sure what would happen if you used a nice breaker on me. Never really tried this out on anyone besides my father and never showed any mages. Mind you I don't know a lot about this form. This is only about the 10th time I have ever used it." Lee and Sarah looked in awe. After doing some intensive Ki blasting, where he blasted on and then blasted a second one to collide with the first, canceling it out, he finally re-sealed his levels and went back to normal. "Okay, I've burned enough, lets go home."

They drove back home and Lee resumed his training. He thanked Lance too as he dropped him off at Sakura's as a ferret. He had been too wiped to teleport so he had to be driven home. During the ride, Lee and Sarah asked him a bunch of stuff about what he had done. "Do you know of anyone else that can reach the ZENRYOKU ZENKAI STYLE form?" John answered, "As I know it, only 13 people, myself included on Earth can go up to that Level." Then Sarah asked, "Have you ever tried fighting someone in that mode?" John then said, "I have only once used that mode seriously against an opponent who could also use it. He was my dad, your grandfather. It was probably the hardest battle of my life. I ended up losing by a hair because I used up too much Ki on a failed final attack and he got me at the last second. But it was probably my most enjoyable defeat too. I didn't feel bad either because I knew that I had given it my all."

After they got home, Lee felt inspired so he spared with Sarah. They spared until dinnertime when they stopped. When they went in, their Dad had a surprise for them. A new set of weights. He couldn't give them more weights because they weren't big enough but he instead gave them weights that were twice as heavy to replace the current set. They tried them on. They were surprised at the difference. It wasn't that they didn't expect a big difference from doubling the workload; it was just the amount of difference that got them. Their Dad had them place the weights in different locations like the wrists and the ankles and only had four of them farther up like the thigh and forearm. This made the ones on the ends of their arms feel four times as heavy, not two due to the extra distance. Dinner was a disaster that night as they tried to get accustomed to the new weight. Their dad said if they trained tomorrow for a bit that they should get the hang of them in no time.

After Dinner, they both agreed that they were too tired to go back to training so they decided to go to their rooms instead. Being too lazy to move from their beds, they were having a mental conversation. They were talking about school. It wasn't like Lee wouldn't see Sarah anymore. The high school and the junior high school were right next to each other. The only thing dividing them was a fence and Lee knew from Sora that there was a hole in it where a bush covered it so it was easy to get from one side to another. Lee was telling Sarah about the school and what teachers to look out for that he knew would be there. Sarah was going into the 6th grade class while Lee was going to go into the freshman class of the high school, which was still called Great Triumph.

According to a friend, the high school had one really cool teacher named Ron who was the Chemistry teacher and one really evil teacher called Nora. She was the history teacher for the 9th and 10th grades. She was both strict and harsh and hated teenage boys the most. She didn't mind the girls so much but she was the devil as far as the male faction was concerned. It was also known that there was a large faculty rivalry between Ron and Nora for the Vice-Principles job. Every year, the Vice-principle would retire so the job was always up for grabs.

Sarah's trouble was easily going to be Miss. Warne. She was what most would call a traditionalist. This means that she hated the unordinary and a super athletic genius girl fit the category perfectly. She was probably older than the tradition but she thought that all Girls should be slim, shy and good a cooking and not athletic in anything besides dancing, which she said was all right. Boys needed to be muscular, polite little gentlemen at all times and always show chivalry. Though there was nothing in the school rules about any of this, she would as good as punish you for not following these guidelines. Luckily, Lee and some of his school friends, including Chrono had written an in-depth written guide on how to avoid her. Sakura was never part of it because she miraculously was one of the few students that Miss. Warne liked, and usually gave less HW. Lee had given the guide of Warne Avoidance to Sakura a few days ago as a present. They ended their mental conversation there, as this was their last school free night of the vacation and they didn't want it plagued with nightmares about evil teachers. They went to sleep a little while later. Tomorrow was going to be their last day of vacation.

They woke up the next mourning late, for the last time, and ate a brunch with their dad. Then they walked out of the house and realized something. They had no idea of what to do. Until now, they were always doing HW on the last day as they were both first class procrastinators but since their dad had been so kind as to have some Bureau members do their HW as a thank you for taking up the last two weeks of their vacation for assisting them with Bureau work. They decided to call up Chrono and Sakura, who they were sure were having the same problem, also receiving John's 'service'.

Sure enough, they were right on the money. They didn't even need to dial the number when the phone rang with Sakura on the other side. She invited them to go shopping with them (Sakura, Chrono, Nanoha and Lance.) They said they would meet them at the mall. Sakura's father and Stepmother were a lot more lenient with letting Sakura (Sakura had gotten kidnapped when she was younger, chapter 5) go into public with her friends. This was probably because there was now a lot more of them and that John had told them that Lee was probably as good a bodyguard as he was. They had been guarded on business by John before and thus, knew about their expert guarding skills.

They went to the mall around one. They decided to let loose and fly the whole way and teleport to the ground. They wanted to have a good last day and decided to travel the fun way. They met up with the rest at the food court where they were having lunch why waiting for them. They finished up and went shopping. As usual, this meant Nanoha, Sakura and Sarah were having all the fun and the rest were carrying the bags. Chrono personally felt a bit of male trust being broken by Lance who had decided to stay in ferret form to avoid the workload. It was more to the effect that Nanoha wanted him on his shoulder to tell her if she looked good in certain pieces of clothing but as long as he wasn't a pack mule, he didn't mind it one bit. Chrono was already plotting his revenge when they exited the first store. When they had spent their entire budget, which considering one was rich and the other one was staying with the rich girls parents, was a lot. And as usual, Sakura had bought the majority of Sarah's clothes too with her family's credit card. Sarah announced that life was good when one of your friends could buy you as many clothes as you wanted.

They spent a few hours in the mall. After they were done shopping, they went to see a movie, well 2 movies to be precise. The girls went to see some romance drama. Luckily for Lee, he had Chrono who was brave enough to put his foot down and said that he was going to watch an action movie. Lee would never have the guts to tell Sakura or Sarah that and would eventually end up watching said chick flick. Chrono had already decided his punishment for Lance. He said, "Okay, Lee and I will go see the action movie, and you guys can see your drama. And I guess as Lance seems comfortable, he'll go see the drama with you." Lance's eyes widened. Chrono knew that he hated over emotional movies and even more, the yanking he got from the closest over emotional girl also known as Nanoha. Chrono was quietly laughing his gut out as he saw the expression on the ferrets face and the curse words he was sending telepathically. Lee felt a little sorry for Lance but he was also partly on Chrono's side after the amount of bags they had to carry with them into the movie theater.

When their movies were over, they met up in the mini arcade in the theater lobby. Lee and Chrono were there before the rest because their movie had ended 15 minutes earlier. When the girls and Lance appeared, Chrono was happy to see that his revenge was complete. Lance looked all ruffled and dazed. He was twitching a little also. Lee was also slightly happy to see this as part of him thought Lance deserved it. Lance was cursing at Chrono mentally. Finally, Lee thought to put a stop to this so while they were walking home from the pizzeria they had stopped at for dinner, the girls spotted a little boutique shop and wanted to see what was inside. Lee thought thins was the perfect chance. He told Chrono he would go in to help them with their bags. He then said that Lance and Chrono could wait outside. Nanoha didn't have a second thought as she placed Lance on Chrono's shoulder. Lee then went straight into the bathroom and made sure no one was looking. He then used his immobilization power, which he hadn't tried in a long time, and tried to target Chrono and Lance. Outside the shop on a bench, Chrono and Lance suddenly froze in place, unable to move a muscle. Then they got a mental message from Lee, "_As your already together, try and make up_._ What Lance did wasn't that bad but I also think he needs to start acting like a man._" They both sent mental curse words into Lee's head but Lee ignored them.

On the bench, Chrono and Lance were frozen together in position, but the passers by didn't notice. Lance and Chrono were talking telepathically to each other. Meanwhile, the girls and Lee were inside. Lee had somehow been turned into a fashion judge and had to tell them whenever they tried something on if it was good or not. Being sensible, he told them everything was good. The last thing he wanted to do was get any of them upset. After about 10 minutes, Lee was wondering why Chrono and Lance hadn't come in yet. His immobilization power only worked for a few minutes' tops.

After another ten minutes, the girls were done with their purchase and they headed outside. When Lee turned to the bench, Chrono and Lance were still stuck in position, exactly where Lee had left them. Chrono and Lance were now sending a bunch of unpleasant words to Lee mentally. Lee dispelled it immediately while the girls backs were turned. "WHAT THE HELL WAS UP WITH THAT!" said Chrono? "Sorry," said Lee in return, "I didn't think it would last this long. Last time I used it, it lasted all of 5 minutes." Lance then said, "and when was that, a year ago?" "No, I think it was just a few months actually." Both Chrono and Lance fell backwards it shock. "How stupid can you get," they both said in unison.

The good news as they were all walking home was that now Lance and Chrono had made up and it was like nothing had happened. The bad news was that now they were on a vendetta against Lee, who walked in front to stop anything from starting. When they got to the point where their houses were in different directions after Sakura's house (they were told by Sakura's over protective parents to bring her back themselves), Lee and Sarah split with Chrono and they each headed their own way.

Unknown to Sakura and Nanoha, who were too busy with their shopping, they were missing a small ferret now on Chrono's shoulder. "You remember the plan?" The ferret jumped into the air and landed down as a human. "You bet." They each disappeared on spot to start their little scheme. Each went to gather the supplies from various locations and then met back in the park. "You got your stuff?" Lance nodded and Chrono confirmed Lance with a bag as well. "Now lets put the plan into action." They disappeared again.

Lee and Sarah were already on their home street. They walked into their house, greeted their parents and went to their respective rooms. Lee went to sit down on the bed after the long day. As soon as he did, a green chain bind appeared out of nowhere. Suddenly, he felt some pressure in the chest area against his shirt that was now, to his unpleasant surprise, was now a tight blue shirt and his pants had turned into a skirt. He looked down to confirm his worst nightmare. He squeezed them to make sure they weren't fakes, and they weren't. He looked in the mirror and saw his hair had lengthened a bit down to his neck and it was now straight. He also noticed that most of his visible muscle was gone and his legs and arms were now more girl-like. He saw himself in a white skirt. It was hard to believe that he was the girl looking out at him from the mirror. He ran downstairs and yelled as he got into the living room, "WHOSE FUNNY IDEA WAS THIS?" Suddenly, Lance and Chrono popped out from behind the couch and Lee saw a bright flash of light come from a camera in Chrono's hands. A picture popped out the bottom and Chrono held it up. "I think we can call ourselves even."

On the couch, Lee's father was chocking on his own laughter. "Sorry Lee, at first I was going to stop them but it sounded too funny to pass up." He was on the floor rolling in a laughing fit. His mother looked at him, giggling a bit and said, "I've always wanted another daughter." Sarah came running downstairs, "What's so funny. I can hear you from upstairs." She looked around at everyone, then the feminized Lee. She fell down laughing her head off. "Shut up," said Lee and to even more shock, his voice had turned high pitched. This only led to another laughing fit from both John and Sarah. Then Chrono came walking towards them, "I'll sell you prints." They both agreed immediately, knowing this was a once in a lifetime chance. "Okay, ha, ha, I get the point, now can you undo this already." Lance and Chrono were already walking towards the door. "Don't worry," said Lance, still laughing, "it'll wear off in five hours or so. Oh, and by the way, you won't be able to take the clothes off until then." They both walked out of the door laughing. "I think were all even now," said Chrono to Lance when they got out onto the street. "You got that right." Chrono handed Lance two CD's. He looked confused until Chrono took out a video camera hidden in his jacket. "Make sure to show Sakura, okay." Lance laughed a bit more as he teleported. Chrono followed suit.

Lee was begging his father to help him turn back but unfortunately, John said he couldn't. He was still smiling at the humor of the situation. Lee didn't believe him until he said, "Sorry Lee, Transformation magic only dispels under three conditions. The first is if the person who casted it dispels it or if the preset limit is met, in your case it will wear off in a few hours, so until then, you will just has to deal. The third is for either you or the user to be hit with a ton of magical power. Short of using an AMF, there isn't anything I can do." Lee looked saddened at this proclamation. For the next few hours, he was stuck being a girl. When he went to take a shower, he found that he really was stuck in the shirt and skirt combo. What was more, every time he tried to remove it, something worse happened. The first was that his skirt got shorter. The second was his boys underwear had turned into panties. He didn't like the feel of them at all. The third time, his bust size increased a bit, making them feel tighter. When he, or now be she, gave up, she left the room and went to lie down on the couch. His/her mother came over and tried to comfort him, to no avail. Then when that was done, his/her sister came in with a bunch of hair ribbons and tried to force him into some. He then retreated into his room to go to sleep early, trying to forget the entire incident. He wanted a good nights sleep for his first day back. Saving the world he could handle, high school was another matter.


	28. High School, the Experience

The Haruno Chronicles

Ch. 28 Ah, the first day of High School, Now that was something to remember. First time for the revenge cycle to end. Then to settle in. Then it's off to find your club. In this chapter we see the first few days of our main characters high school experience.

Disclaimer: Everything, material, characters, locations ect… are property of the respective people.

Chapter 28 – High School, the experience

Lee woke up the next morning to find that Lance and Chrono's 'prank' had finally worn off. Even the dress and all other things girly magically attached to him had disappeared and he was wearing the same clothes as yesterday right before the transformation magic Lance had booby trapped his room with took effect. At first, he was already planning a get back prank but the he decided to give them each a punch in the head and be over with the whole incident. After all, it is pretty much how it all got started. He ate breakfast early and was running to the door. He didn't want to be late on the first day. Just as he was getting to the door, his father came and handed him a package. Lee opened it to see a full metal Katana, the type used for concealment and the standard for what John use on bodyguard missions. "Don't worry, some 'relations' within the family got a license for you to carry that anywhere. It would be too bizarre if you always made one of Ki out of thin air. Also, the principle knows and has signed the agreement as long as you don't use it to harm other students or purposely damage property." He handed Lee an official looking document with some important signatures. Lee hid the katana in a special pocket of his pants. It was short and light so it didn't look like it was there at all. He then thanked his dad and ran the door.

He had sealed most of his Ki with RETASETSU so he wouldn't stand out. But not all of it so he could still look impressive. Most people trained to get better at something after all and it would be a waste not to use some of it. He used his SHUNPO, which had been virtually cut in half to make the bus on time. He got there just in time to get on the bus and find a seat in the back, where everyone was waiting for him. Sakura was on a different bus due to the fact that the junior high school started 15 minutes earlier to make sure that buses didn't clog traffic. Lee sat down next to Chrono and Sakura, with Nanoha to Sakura's side. Lance was at home due to the fact that there wasn't a way of entering him into the school without suspicion. He went on patrol from time to time to keep an eye out though.

They were all laughing when Lee, true to his word the previous night, hit Chrono on the head before saying, "If I hear or see any 'rumors' going around, I can't promise the building will hold up." This made them all stop, but Sakura said, "Well, if it has any meaning, you were a very cute girl." Lee was about to say something but decided to look the other way. Then Chrono said, "Yes, you were very sexy." Lee then said, "Just for your information, as of this morning, I have a license to carry my sword anywhere, including the school grounds. Now we both know I won't hurt you but it could just slip, tearing off your clothes and what little dignity you have left." Lee then opened the pocket of his pants with the blade in it. He seemed to get his point across as Chrono had turned almost sober by the time they got off the bus, when Lee finally said, "It was a joke, I may be a bit vengeful, but not evil."

They walked through the doors to the school. Lee felt some staring as they passed. Lee no longer had the vast majority of his muscles showing so to normal eyes, he just looked like a normal, maybe even wimpy freshmen. They walked to their new lockers and shoved their books in, then they each got their schedules and went to homeroom. Due to Chrono's families 'influence' over the cities public functions, they had all been placed in the same class, a big relief to Nanoha who was still getting used to the school thing, having only attended one for a month. They entered their homeroom to find to their delight that there was a grouping of four desks in the back corner (As was tradition in a Japanese school, Seating was decided by the desk you chose on the first day). They sat down and placed their books in their desks and they prepared for the first day of school. As soon as everyone was in his or her seats, the teacher came in.

"Good mourning. I am going to be your Homeroom teacher this year. My name is Mr. Kenton, A pleasure." He looked like he had just come out of college or even was still attending. He was easily the youngest teacher Lee had ever had. Also, most of the girls in the class were starring at him. The boys were just sizing up the enemy. He then started to write stuff on the board. The class started off with basic introductions. They stated their Name and something about themselves. When Lee came up, he said that he liked Kendo. "That's good. I am pleased to say that I am the new Kendo instructor. Can I expect you to join the team?" As they were required to take a sport or club in high school, Lee said yes. He had planned to join it from the beginning. Chrono was going to join him. As one of his weapons could be a sword and Lee was already there, it wouldn't hurt. Sakura had joined the girls archery club along with Nanoha. They thought they could at least work on their accuracy. Though their magic usually auto guided their shots to have pretty good aim, John had told them that at the root, it was the mage who supplied the skill required so the better the mage, the better the attack.

Homeroom lasted until lunch, as it was the first day. The second part of the day was entirely devoted to finding a club or sport to join. They ate lunch on the roof like normal. When they were done, they were instructed to go to the gym for an assembly. When they got there, they sat with their class on the floor why the principle gave a speech about a new start and other stuff. Then he explained that in each room in the school, there was a different club booth set up for them to go and look at. They were to goo and look at the ones that interested them and chose one by the end of the day. Those who hadn't would be placed in the club with the fewest members automatically and be forbidden from changing for the first semester. There was a big map of the whole school posted in the gym saying which rooms had which clubs in it. There were also ones near the stairs and at the entrance. Lee and Chrono split for the schools Dojo, where the martial arts and Kendo teams met together. It was big so it could be split in half easily. Sakura and Nanoha headed for the back of the gym, which was where the fully equipped archery range was located.

When Chrono and Lee entered the dojo, they enter and walked up to the kendo booth located inside. There were three people at the booth. One was Mr. Kenton, and the other two introduced themselves as Drew Hokkaido and Norman Tints, both seniors. Drew was the captain of the Kendo team. He had the perfect build for kendo. He had a lot of muscle but they weren't big. He wasn't huge but medium sized. Norman, the vice-captain was a bit bigger in comparison. His muscles were large. This meant he would be slower but he could make up for it with excessive power. As far as normal swordsmen go, these two seemed to be pretty good. "So are you two beginners?" asked Drew. "I am," said Chrono. Lee then said, "I wouldn't call myself a beginner but no one is perfect." Lee tried to see if any of the three were any good so he released one level of his sealing, which to the eye was unnoticeable but obvious to any true swordsmen. Neither of the two seniors showed any signs, but Lee thought he saw something in the captain's eyes so he wasn't sure about him. But Mr. Kenton smiled and looked at him directly, giving Lee a clear sign that he understood. Lee at least now was confident that the instructor had some talent. They asked them to start warming up for practice while others came to look at the club.

At the same time as Lee and Chrono were at the Kendo Club, Sakura and Nanoha went to the Girls Archery club to sign up. When they got there, there were two people at the booth. The first was a student and the other a teacher. They introduced themselves as Susan Layton and Miss. Bell. Susan was a senior and the Captain of the Archery club and Miss. Bell was the instructor. Rosa Genoa, a junior and vice-captain was in the archery range setting it up. Sakura and Nanoha said they were beginners and to teach them. They then went over to help set things up why waiting for the sign up period to end.

Back at the Kendo booth, they were all set up and the waiting time had expired. In total, 6 boys, including Lee and Chrono had signed up. Along with 8 old members from the previous school year, there were 14 in all, including captains. There were 2 others as well but they were helping some of the other booths and so would not be with them until tomorrow. They were both seniors. They had all already warmed up so now they were splitting up into three groups, Beginners, intermediates and experts. The Beginner group was made up of 6 students, 4 freshmen (Chrono included) and 2 sophomores, led by Mr. Kenton. The intermediate group had 4 people in it, 1 freshman, 2 sophomores and a junior, led by vice-captain Norman. The last group, the experts only had two people, Lee and a returning junior.

Drew smiled, "So you think your some hot stuff, don't ya freshmen." Lee looked at him as if daring him to say something else. He then said, "Don't worry, I ain't mocking ya or nothing. I did the same thing freshmen year. I will just warn ya now that I don't go easy. With that said, do you want to continue?" Lee nodded. "Good, lets get started. As to ascertain the strength of our newcomer, lets have a little spar between the two of ya. We can use the karate side of the dojo, I think they're still jogging around the gym." Sure enough, the other side was empty when they went through the dividing curtain. "Okay, this is a free style full arena match. There are no restrictions on the fighting style at all. You can use your bare hands for all I care. Please go to your places." John had taught Lee a bit about formal matches for the family tournament. This was basically the same type they used in that tournament. Lee went to the opposite side it the arena. Then he took his wooden Katana and bowed to his opponent. The junior smirked, thinking of this as an easy win and bowed in return. Drew started the match. The junior rushed at Lee, but to Lee seamed unbearably slow. Lee dodged his first few attacks without using his sword at all. Then he got behind him. The junior then turned around and tried to do a side slash. Lee stopped it with his pointer. Then, just using his pointer and thumb, held it in place. "What the?" said the junior, trying to move the sword with both hands and with no luck. Drew looked impressed by this. Then Lee let go and the junior fell over. He got up, looking furious and rushed towards Lee. He did a violent slash downwards. Lee evaded it with ease and then swung fast at the junior, stopping right before it made contact near the stomach. Next thing the junior knew, he was on the floor, looking up at Lee and Drew who were looking down at him sleeping on the floor. "What the hell happened? I remember his sword being right near my stomach and then it was all a blur." Drew then said, "Don't worry, most people would be knocked out by 13 straight blows to the stomach." "13?" the junior said, looking were the pain was and there were at least a dozen different small slash marks. "Sorry, I tired to hold them back a little bit." The junior then said, "Bane, the name's Bane Darrow. Remember it; I will be back for you." And he walked away.

"Nice attack, 13 hits and I almost lost track, mind you I was caught off guard." Lee smiled, "I guess no ones perfect," and he pointed at the floor where he had made the attack. On the ground, there were exactly 15 slash marks. "I made the majority of the slashes to the ground to hold back, but I guess you were caught off guard a bit." Drew started laughing, "I have got to face you; how about a small match between the two of us, and lets not hold back so much. I know your using RETASETSU; yes I noticed it earlier. So how about we both release it and we do an exhibition match for the whole team. It will be a good moral booster. And I will throw in a bonus. Beat me in under 30 seconds and I will make you the new vice-captain. Norman is strong but is as fast as a rock. It is always his downfall." Lee agreed, thinking that it could be interesting.

5 minutes later, they were on opposite sides of the arena, with the rest of the team as spectators. Mr. Kenton was going to be ref and timekeeper. "This is a free, anything goes match. If Lee wins within the first 30 seconds, he will be the new vice-captain." Drew then asked Lee, "By the way, I never got your last name. What is it, I would like to know my challenger and next victims full name." Lee then said, "Cross, my name is Lee Cross." Drew's eyes seemed to widen. "Cross, that explains it." He then took off 4 training weights. By the sound they made on contact with the floor, Lee guessed they were about 32 kg apiece (about 75 pounds). "I am sorry for matching you up with a mediocre opponent. For a cross, it is necessary to have a worthy opponent. I will not hold back." He released the power seal and Lee felt a good amount of Ki radiate from him. About as much as Sarah could. Lee then released another 2 levels out of the twenty he made. Now his muscles got noticeably bigger. Then another 2 so he was at level 5. Now he was ready to fight. His muscles were clearly visible. He no longer looked like some newbie freshman. "Take your stances." Drew took a stance Lee recognized as a Benjutsu stance. It was where the user positioned their sword as if it was in a sheath and swung it as such. It was a technique of moderate power but amazing speed. At Lee's current level of Ki emission, even he would have trouble reacting. It was a technique that's total attack time was 2 seconds. He decided to make this as quickly as possible. He took his sword and with his right hand, brought the hilt level to his face. Then he placed his left hand on the swords tip. To Drew 30 feet away, it looked like some type of thrusting technique, but that couldn't be right. He was much to far outside a thrusts range, which was that of the user taking one step with the sword fully extended. Drew thought it was a challenge for him to make the first move.

Chrono on the sidelines was the only one in the room who knew what was about to happen. He looked at Norman, who was next to him and said, "Prepare to be demoted." Norman looked over at Chrono, "So do you know what your friend is about to do?" "More or Less. It is impossible to see but the result is as clear as day. It will be over in zero seconds." "Don't over exaggerate. So this is some type of high-speed technique. Sorry to tell you but speed is Drew's specialty. No one can beat him in that department." Chrono smiled, "Sorry to say this, but this technique goes far beyond just speed. To someone who can't use the technique, it is 100% unbeatable." "Tough words for the beginner."

Back on the arena, Lee and Drew were ready. Mr. Kenton looked at both the combatants. He could feel the power around the room. "Ready, Set, GO!" The moment that he started said go, it was over. Everyone rechecked they're eyes after what happened. One moment they were taking their stances, the second, Lee was behind Drew, who was standing motionless. If you blinked, you missed the fight. Then Lee's sword, even with the Ki he put into it, broke into pieces. Lee walked away from Drew. "Mr. Kenton, See to it that he is properly taken care of." Mr. Kenton nodded. Lee then realized that the kendo instructor was probably several times more powerful than Drew. He was the only one who noticed what happened, though he could only tell from the signs left from it. Just then, two seconds after the attack, a large crack from where Lee was to where Lee had reappeared appeared on the floor as a shockwave flew forward. Mr. Kenton walked over and looked at Drew's face. "Hay," said Norman, looking at Lee, "Where are you going, the match is still on." Mr. Kenton then spoke up, "No, it isn't. Mr. Drew here is unconscious. Lee already won, which I guess makes him the new Vice."

It took a few minutes but Drew finally recovered. He sat up on the bench he was placed on where Mr. Kenton was bandaging him up. "I can't remember a thing from the fight." Mr. Kenton smiled and said, "That would be because the fight as far as we are concerned consisted of a little Disappearing act by Lee where he reappeared behind you." Drew then asked, "So what was the final fight time?" Mr. Kenton takes out his pocket watch and hands it to Drew. It reads "00:00:00.00." "There wasn't enough time to press the button. If you blinked, you missed the battle." Drew then laughed, "This is interesting. This years is going to be fun."

Drew walked over to Lee, who was resealing his Ki down to one level. Following Drew was Mr. Kenton. Mr. Kenton then asked, "So that technique, was it ZERO TENSHI?" Lee's eyes widened, "Where did you learn about it?" Mr. Kenton then asked, "By any chance, do you know a person named Sora. I once saw him use that same technique." Lee's eye's widened some, "Yeah, he's my older brother." Mr. Kenton started laughing, "I knew it. I knew I recognized the style. Your Sora's brother, aren't you. Sora used that technique many times on me during Kendo practice last year. We were on the same Kendo team in college. He was a year under me. How is he?" Lee responded, "Good, He was here until 2 days ago." Drew butted in, "So what exactly is this ZERO TENSHI anyway." Mr. Kenton answered, "A thrust. It is a thrust of such amazing speed that the opponent cannot defend against it. They can't even move." Lee interjected, "Only half right. It is not a high-speed technique. Combining Ki with a special stance and a correct step, all perfectly done, this technique enters the user into Zero Time, a space existing outside of time. Time, Distance, fear, they all become Zero within this technique. But the basic part was right. It is a thrust, initially. If I was going for a full out attack, I could add slashes or anything I wanted to the combo. This technique literally takes Zero seconds to perform. Do not feel bad, except for my father, no one has ever defeated it and he was the one who made it so that loss only makes sense." Drew then said, "Interesting, this is very interesting. Let me fight you again sometime." Drew got up and then turned around, "Be sure to go to Norman and get his Key's for the dojo. I will have the vice-captains badge ready for your uniform once the uniforms get in. Lee went to sit down and watched as the rest of them resumed practicing.

Meanwhile, at the same time, Sakura and Nanoha were sitting down on some benches with about 20 or so other girls, listening to the captain, Susan Layton, explain the basics of archery. She also explained the tournament styles and other stuff newbie's needed to know. When she was done, she asked them to come over to get fitted for a bow. They were each given a bow at the beginning of the year that they were to maintain for the rest of their time in the club. Sakura and Nanoha each got themselves a fairly new bow and walked over. Then they had their measurements taken by Miss. Bell for their uniforms. Then they got a wrist guard and were led in droves of two to one of the ten target stations. Nanoha was first; she placed the arrow on the bow like Susan had shown them, then pulled it to face level. She looked closely at where she was targeting. She then let it go. It hit the blue ring, right outside the bulls-eye zone. She looked a little disappointed but the vice captain, Rosa, came and told her it was a nice shot for a beginner.

Then Sakura went up. She took up the bow and loaded an arrow. Then she drew the arrow back to her face level. Then she aimed. Instead of trying to aim the arrow, she pretended she was firing a blast of magic. She focused hard on the target. Unnoticed by her but noticed by Nanoha, a bit of magic seeped into the arrows tip sub-consciously. She launched her arrow. It went straight through the bull's eye and the entire target and came out on the other side, cracking the tip of the arrow as it hit a rock behind it. Susan happened to be watching. "Dam nice shot you got there, any previous experience." Sakura shook her head, "Well, your good for a beginner. I want to see another three shots." Sakura went back to the range and loaded three arrows. This time, she asked after Nanoha told her to CERENITY to hold her magic back. She then focused intently on the spot, still imagining the arrow being a blast of magic. She aimed it the same way and let it go. She did this three times, each time hitting the bull's eye. The second arrow went down the shaft of the first and the third down the second's shaft. Susan clapped. "You got stuff freshmen. I like stuff. You are going to be good. I will make sure of it."

From then until the end of practice, Susan took Sakura to a station at the end to work alone on her shooting. She showed Sakura the entire mechanics of the bow and exactly how to fire. She gave Sakura an example with her bow, which looked a bit too big for her. She fired 5 times, each hitting a dot that she had preplaced on the target. Sakura was amazed, but then again, Susan was the captain of the Archery Club. Sakura then tried it herself and managed to hit all of the targets on her first try. They kept going at it.

The rest just kept alternating. Nanoha had taken Sakura's advice on aiming and it seemed to work. Nanoha too started hitting the Bull's eye, though she couldn't do it every time. She was able to hit 3 out of 4 though. Rosa came over and told her that it was all in the wrists. She gave Nanoha a visible demonstration. Nanoha tried to copy her and her arrow went off. "No, No, NO. You're doing it all wrong. You are trying to copy me, who am left-handed. You are right handed, so instead of mimicking me, reflect me like a mirror, doing the same and at the same time, the opposite of me. Nanoha tried again, changing hands to 'reflect' the vice-captain. The result being that the two arrows collided into each other while hitting the bull's eye and falling down. "There we go, just needed a push." Nanoha continued to practice the form for a while after.

After about 2 hours, Susan declared that practice was over and that they should all meet here tomorrow for practice as well. They all started to leave. Susan asked Sakura to stay behind and help clean up. Unfortunately, Sakura was driven home and had to hurry. She was now allowed to ride to school on the bus but she still had to be driven at night. But she decided two minutes wouldn't hurt in the long run so she went and helped bring the arrows to the door of the Archery clubs supply shed. "Thanks," said Susan, locking the shed. "You are a really good teacher," said Sakura. "Don't worry, it is mostly you. I don't remember anyone besides Rosa or myself who got a bull's eye on their first day." Sakura blushed and said, "Well my friends say I have a keen eye. That's the real reason why I joined." Susan then said, "Well I'm glad you did. There is ever lasting demand for talent in any sport." Sakura said good-bye and ran to the car where Nanoha and Sakura's dad were waiting for her to go home.

At the same time, the Kendo club had also been dismissed. Lee and Chrono were already leaving the building when realized that they had missed the bus. In celebration of their first day of school being over, they decided to have a sky race. When they weren't transformed, they were pretty evenly matched. Lee ended up winning but it was close. When they finished their race, Chrono headed to his house while Lee just directly teleported to his bedroom.

When Lee went downstairs, Sarah was already on the couch watching TV. He sat down in a chair and watched some TV too. "And how was your new prison today?" said Sarah. "Not bad. Joined the Kendo team, stole the vice-captains position ect… Would have been captain but you needed to be a returning club member first. No Homework, that's good. And how about you?" Sarah looked at Lee, "Would be dead in detention if it wasn't for your "Guide of Miss. Warne avoidance." She was all over me. She even swapped my chair for one that forces you to sit straight back. It was agony. It was all I could do to hold back from making her desk explode. Though I did manage to make her pen squirt ink in her face via magic. It was funny to watch." Lee and Sarah laughed when John came in. "So what's so funny." They stopped for a second, and then decided that telling their dad was all right, as long as mom didn't learn about it. She was a fun mother, but a strict disciplinarian. She didn't approve of this sort of behavior, in excess at least. She would sometimes turn a blind eye of it was a harmless little joke or something to someone who deserved it, but that would never pass for doing it to a teacher.

After dinner, Lee and Sarah went into the dojo for a little after dinner workout. Lee told his dad about joining the Kendo club. It turned out that Sarah had joined the junior high kendo club. There club only met three times a week. They were going to evaluate each of their skills tomorrow so Sarah was still an unknown, but Lee had a hunch that she would also become a vice-captain very quickly. John then said that they had made good choices and to make sure not to over do it. Then Lee told John about his match with Drew. "He isn't a boastful idiot like I first thought. He's good. He too was sealing Ki. I would say he is as good, if not even better than Sarah's Level, and definitely much faster. I actually had to try a bit. I had to use ZERO TENSHI to beat him it under 30 seconds to get the vice-captaincy. He is good." John looked a bit surprised, "Now that is an anomaly, another prodigy. What's his last name?" "Hokkaido I think." "Ah, Hokkaido. That would explain it." Lee looked confused, so John continued, "If you say that you and your cousin Sam are rivals, then you would have to say that the Hokkaido's were the Cross's rivals. Their ancestral line is almost as old as ours. Though we've always had similar goals throughout history, we have always been butting heads, trying to outmatch each other. Two of the Hokkaido's are on the list of ZENRYOKU ZENKAI users. And I would bet that one of them, Moran, is probably directly related to this Drew, probably his father, uncle at the most." Lee looked surprised. He was wondering how Drew knew so much about the family name. After absorbing the information, Lee said, "And another anomaly, Mr. Kenton, the Kendo instructor, used to be on the same Kendo team as Sora last year when he was in college." John smiled, "That is a laugh. I know that name. He was the only person I know of outside the family that ever beat Sora. I had to teach Sora ZERO TENSHI to help him win against him, and he still only won by a nose hair. Took him 4 tries as well; he always messed it up during a match, even though he could do it in practice. "You have yourself one interesting Kendo club there. I will definitely make an effort to watch your tournaments." They got back to practicing before going to bed. Sarah had to stop early because she had been given homework on her first day (from Miss. Warne.)

The next morning, Lee slept in late and didn't even make an effort to catch the bus. He just ate breakfast and teleported to school. It wasn't hard; he already knew all the places that would be vacant so no one would see. He teleported to an empty closet near the door to the roof and walked to class. They sat down and waited for Mr. Kenton to start Homeroom. "Good Mourning Class. I have good News. Unfortunately due to paperwork, he couldn't come yesterday but we have a new foreign exchange student joining us today. That's your cue" he said looking at the door. Lee and the rest almost jumped back in shock. A very familiar and mostly unwelcomed face walked into the room. "Hello, my name is Andy Santo. Pleased to be here." His accent was so different from when they met him in the hanger that it was almost believable that he was an exchange student. "Now lets see, as for your desk. I think there is a free one next to Lee in the second back row; you can have that one," Mr. Kenton said, pointing at Lee. Andy smiled and sat down next to Lee. On closer inspection, Lee saw that there was a bandage around the area where Lee had written "BAKA" into his skin as a bruise mark. "So, you like the title," said Lee. Andy smiled, "I think this planet had an expression "What comes around goes around," or something along that line." Lee smiled and said, "What happens happens." Suddenly, the bandages around Andy's head unraveled of their own accord to reveal the BAKA bruise mark on his forehead. Before he could cover it up again, Lee made the bandages fly to his hand and put them in his desk. Unfortunately, it looked like he had been prepared for this and had put on more than one bandage. Andy laughed quietly while Lee just said Mentally, "_You will get yours. Count on it."___To which he got a reply, "_Same goes for you. By the way, a message from your father."_ He made a piece of paper appear in Lee's desk via magic so no one would notice. Lee took it out and read it discreetly, "Come to hanger base after clubs, Andy will show you to the entrance. John" Lee put the note away and nodded at Andy in confirmation.

Homeroom ended and they walked down the hall to the chemistry lab. The teacher, Ron, who Lee by a friend had been told about, was there. He was supposed to be some really good teacher, and that statement was proven true. For their first class, they were working with sulfur, carbon dioxide, oxygen, and a bit of hydrogen. For those of you not in chem., this is the standard formula for the all-famous original stink bomb. Everyone got ready quickly for the experiment, putting on his or her gloves and protective goggles, and air masks for good measure. They prepared the flame and beaker and started the experiment. It took the entire class to complete. "We WILL be testing them tomorrow so be prepared. You will be testing them yourselves." Everyone looked a little pale but not surprised. Many of them, including Lee had already guessed this scenario.

They had lunch near the dividing fence today, as they had decided to meet up with Sarah. She appeared 5 minutes after they got there with a lunch. "Hello all," she said. They all said hi back and they started talking about how they were fairing. Sarah was doing all right. She had P.E. next and was going to play girls vs. boys' dodge ball. They wished her luck at the end of the Lunch period. They were going to be late so they said by quickly and split. Sarah running towards her schools gym and Lee and co. to the dreaded history room, home of Nora, the male hating feminist.

They entered Nora's classroom and sat down. They got their books out and prepared for class. When they were situated, the door opened and a young woman, around her mid-20's, with long blond hair came in. Now it was the boys' turn to start starring and for the girls to size up a potential enemy, or would be except the girls already knew her reputation. She went to the front of the classroom and said, "Hello class, I am Miss. Nora," then she looked at all the boys in the classroom, "And I WILL expect you to call me as such. I will get to the point; I do not put up with childish antics in my room; one strike and your out. I will give detention for those who do not comply. Also," again she looked at all male members of the class, "I will not put up with delinquents. I hope I made myself clear." She then told them to move their desks to match a seating chart she just posted. It split the room up by gender, having the boys in the back and the girls in the front. There was also a clear distance between the two sections. "Good, I am glad we could handle that. Lets begin."

She started class. It was as close to hell as one could get without dying. For the first part of class, when she asked questions, she always chose a girl to answer the question, even if a good number of the boys' section of the class had their hands raised. Then when she was done with the subject, would comment on how poor the participation of the boys was, and then said it must be a lack of proper education. Then came the next part. She asked a girl and a boy to come to the board and answer a question. From everyone's perspective, each answer was 100% right and almost word for word from the textbook. She went up and told the girl that her answer was perfect. Then came the boys answer. It was perfect, and even Nora said it was perfect, but then she said, "But unfortunately, even though the question was right, you get zero points. This is word for word from the text book, which mean that you only copied the answer from the book, you didn't know it." Now the boys were about ready to pop, which in Lee's opinion was what she wanted so she could send them all to detention.

Lee put down his book to get a pen out of his bag and she came over him like a hawk. "Looks like we have a slacker here. Pick your book back up." Lee retaliated and said, "Why you yelling at me. All I did was get a pen." She looked a bit miffed at this, and then she took out a wooden Katana from her sleeve. It was quick to the untrained eye but slow to Lee. "As I said before I don't put up with riff raff in my room. And I also have my pride as instructor of my families Kendo style to uphold. I warn you, stay on guard or else." The rest of the class was watching on. The boys thought that she was taking a bit too far, and some of the girls shared the same thoughts. Lee wasn't dazed in the least. He grabbed the top of the wooden sword with two fingers and asked again, "So what did I do to deserve this again?" She tried to move the sword to find it was firmly in place. Lee had to release a level to keep it that way though. "Why you," she said when Lee finally let go. The boys cheered until a menacing glare shut them up quickly. She swung down at Lee, who hardened his hand with a bit of Ki and grabbed the sword with both hands, leaving most of the class speechless. Then he broke the wooden Katana in half by bending his half to the side. The boys cheered quietly. Nora didn't know what to do; she had never come across someone like Lee. He wasn't, even to her eyes being unruly in anyway but still broke his Katana. She then thought of the perfect punishment. "Lee, as punishment, you will hold an exhibition match with me for demonstration of how the warriors fought during the late 1700's. If you win, the boys will have no Homework tonight and you are exempt from punishment. Lose and you, along with the rest of the boys will have to write an essay, 10 pages in length on what we learned in class today for tomorrow. I will also give you a second choice. Back out and only you will have to do the essay and the rest of the class will be let off from HW." She thought she had him. No one had ever actually taken this gambit before. They all took the former and did the essay, which, to her, was as good as saying they give up. To her surprise, Lee said, "Okay, your on. Where shall we do this?" She didn't know how to respond, as this was the first person to ever agree. Luckily, for her, Lee said, "The dojo is empty, if you want. I have the keys." She agreed reluctantly, not actually having a spot pre-decided for the match.

They hurried to the dojo, not wanting to waste time. Lee opened it and found it empty. The arena was clear and the wooden Katanas were in a cabinet near the entrance. She picked up one of the Katanas, as Lee broke her personal one. Lee picked one up as well. "Rules of the match are simple, only swords and no headshots. First one to land a hit wins." She had a student, a girl; signal the start of the match. She waited for him to come and try and hit her. Unfortunately, Lee had decided to be chivalrous and give her the first move. She decided to take the offer and started a charge. The class watched with awe at the match. To them, this was a fun spectators sport. Lee dodged every one of her swings easily. She was good, but not nearly as good as Drew. She was probably better than the junior he fought the previous day though. And another thing, as it progressed, she was getting faster and stronger. John had once told Lee about a style of swordsmanship that made the users abilities rise after the battle had started and they would rise indefinitely but it was slow and only good for prolonged battles. The easiest way to counter was with speed. Lee took a guess that Nora was a member of the style and that meant that she was probably better than she was showing. Lee was then caught off guard by a small wave of Ki launched off Nora's sword that Lee recognized as the EZUNA. The EZUNA, like most of Lee's Ki techniques were not just the works of the Cross style of Swordsmanship. They were basic techniques of Ki found in any style. Lee had to release another level of Ki to block it. His muscles expanded a little. The class watched on in amazement. Lee decided to end this now. He had purposely prolonged the match for a few reasons. One was to entertain the class and anther was to measure how good Nora was and also not to embarrass her too much.

He took off two bands from his ankles, each around a thousand kg with his dad's hardened Ki (around 200 pounds) and he felt as light as air. These weights, besides limiting the amount of power he could output, they also helped him train his muscles. And due to the properties of Ki, they didn't interfere with his weight compared to anything else. They only weighed 1000 kg in terms to Lee. Lee with them on only weighed 150 pounds if put on a scale but his muscles had to deal with them being a force of 1000 kg or 200 pounds in relative terms. He put them on the ground gently, not wanting to break the floor with them and prepared to finish it.

He then took a stance and waited for Nora to attack. She charged, now a bit exhausted and Lee took action. When she swung, with lightning speed, he spun around her. Most of the class only saw a blur when this happened. The crowed was cheering. Lee then as to not hurt a teacher, hit her softly on the back with his sword. Not enough to hurt her but enough to make her feel it. "That's game. I guess all the boys have no homework tonight then." She was speechless. This was the first time she had been taken on willingly by a student. And for the other times she forced a student into it, was the first time at all that she was beaten. She admitted defeat and put the swords back. Then she told them all to hurry back to the classroom. When they got there, she concluded the lesson with telling them a story of a legendary battle in the 1700's between two samurai at the end of the age of swords. She dismissed them for the day, telling them all, reluctantly to the boys, that there was no homework tonight. The entire male population of the class, except for Andy, went to Lee and told him good job and that was really cool and stuff like that.

It was time for their last class of the day; P.E. Great Triumph was a special school that thought that you should have a P.E. class, even in high school. Other schools in the central Tokyo region were like that too. They went outside and split up, by gender. It was going to be a Boys vs. Girls dodge ball match, like what Sarah had earlier to celebrate their first gym class. They were outside for this and Lee was ready to win. He had put his weights back on but had only sealed one level, leaving one open to enhance his abilities a bit. The boys were sure they were going to win with Lee on their team. But Sakura and Nanoha had their own plans. They, who were terrible at sports, were going to use magic to enhance their abilities to around Lee's Level. Chrono decided on his own to do the same. They prepared to start the Match. The P.E. teacher signaled the start of the match with his whistle. They all ran for the balls on the center court line. Then they ran back a few steps and started throwing the balls like crazy. There was a flurry of balls being launched. Many of the people from both teams were getting knocked out fast. Lee was launching the balls fast but not hard and getting many people out as a result. Chrono was doing the same. But for every person Lee and Chrono got out, Nanoha and Sakura got just as many out as well. It took only 5 minutes to eliminate everyone except Nanoha and Sakura on the girls' side, and Lee, Chrono, and to their surprise Andy from getting out. They all knew he must have been using magic too to enhance his abilities as well. Then Sakura threw a fast ball that he didn't have time to counter and Andy went down as well, leaving just the four of them. Another 5 minutes went by with no change. Then Lee decided to end it all. He stopped the chivalry and started throwing all sorts of crazy balls, which took all they had for Sakura and Nanoha to avoid. Lee was making the balls go wild with his magic controlling them. Nanoha retaliated by focusing magic into a ball in her hand and sending it rocketing at Chrono, which made a solid hit before exploding from what everyone thought was pressure. Someone had done it the previous year. It was actually the magic inside it that made it explode. In return, Lee made a ball turn wildly in mid air and knocked Sakura out of the game. It was now down to Nanoha and Lee. Nanoha, whose side had all the balls started a furious barrage of balls at Lee, who dodged them all easily, then he took a ball and made a 5-foot jump in the air and did a twist launch at Nanoha. She retaliated by making a ball collide into it, the result was that the balls rebounded off each other, Nanoha's hitting Lee and Lee's hitting Nanoha. As it had been at the exact same time, the game was called a tie. The boys went to Lee and congratulated him on a good match while the girls went and worshiped Nanoha.

They ended class with another few rounds of dodge ball, which resulted in an undecided result of a win each for the girls and boys. They then went to change for sports. Sakura and Nanoha were heading out to archery and Lee and Chrono were going to the dojo for Kendo practice. When Lee got there, Drew and the now third ranked Norman were already there. Lee was already inserted into the schools archives as the new vice-captain of the team. Though Norman wished it wasn't true, he willingly admitted that Lee was more suited for the position than himself. Lee and Chrono noticed that there were two boxes in front of them. Drew explained that the practice uniforms and new sets of protective armor were in. For tournament play, they had to wear a full set of kendo armor for insurance and safety reasons. The old sets were falling apart so the school had gotten some new ones. They each picked up their uniforms, which were just a white tee shirt with normal martial arts pants and a sash for a belt. They went and changed into them while waiting for everyone.

When everyone had assembled and changed into their practice wear, Drew started off with them sitting down. Today, they would spend some times going over the rules of a proper Kendo match for tournaments. He went over all of the main rules and differences from normal fighting. For instance, a hit was only counted if it hit one of the nine target spots determined by the location of vital organs in the body, if you were hit in the head, neck, heart, stomach, liver, lungs, intestines or either kidney spot, it was a loss. There were three rounds in a match, 5 people on a registered team, and 2 schools in a single 1-1 tournament style and 8 or 12 schools at the main tournament once a month. Then in March, there were district finals, and then the winner of those would go to the nationals. The major tournament styles goes as follows. The rounds up to the finals were all fought using the one hit system explained above, then for the semi-finals, it was a traditional style match between the semifinalists. A traditional match was one where the armor rule wasn't enforced and you lost after 5 vital hits. These matches were each 3 rounds as well. Then there was the finals match. In this round, the three members of the two finalist teams would have an all out free style match with no restrictions and no excessive armor. These matches were decided when the opponent was unable to fight or was rendered unconscious. You could be disqualified for excessive force and hitting in the privates. Headshots however were legal. For 1-1 tournaments. Teams of 5 were needed. They consisted of only one round of a traditional style match. There was no final match; the team who won the most won the match.

After he finished his explanation of the rules, he announced to them that they had the opening tournament in 1 week. This was a tournament between 8 schools in the same district to kick off the start of the season and to see which schools had promising prospects. It would be held at a city owned location meant for sports exhibitions. They had only one week to prepare. As it was a regulation tournament, it was going to be done with a 5-person team. There were currently only 3 people that have been decided for tournament contestants, Lee, Norman and himself. The other two spots were open to those who showed the best during the next week. Drew also mentioned that he did put a beginner in last year at the beginning of the season with good results. He was in the final round and won. This brightened the faces of all the beginners. When they were about to go, Drew said, "Stop, I forgot to mention something. Attacks with Ki, by the national kendo association, are limited to final round fights only. For anyone who could use a Ki attack, save it." He was mainly looking at Lee. Lee only knew a few Ki techniques so far so it didn't matter.

For the rest of practice, the beginners sparred with each other, the intermediates were being taught techniques by Mr. Kenton and the experts, now four including the captain and Lee were also sparring. Lee kept facing Drew, who said that he was a good training partner. Lee told him he wouldn't use ZERO TENSHI, as even Lee could see why some people would call it cheap. An attack that is impossible to see or avoid wouldn't help someone improve anyway. Lee for good sport only released up to 5 levels, but took off two of his weights. He was surprised to find that Drew also had four more weights to take off in addition to the ones he took off yesterday, and they were heavier at 45 kg, (100 pounds) apiece. Lee had learned from his father that though the Cross's were the only ones who had ever done it to such an extreme, there were other styles that used the same training methods. The result of both of them taking off their training weights was that to most of the others, they appeared as blurs to anyone watching. Only Chrono and two of the intermediates who had started their Ki training could keep up. Lee at this level still had trouble. When Norman said that this guy was fast, he wasn't kidding. Lee ended their first match by resorting to his SHUNPO. Though Drew could also do SHUNPO, he couldn't go nearly as fast as Lee. Instead, he did a Ki technique Lee had never seen before. He stopped where he was and held his sword up. Then he focused Ki into the sword and then sort of shot it out in thin pulses, resulting in a 360˚ attack. It hit Lee who was just going in circles and knocked him over. Before Lee even hit the ground, Drew dashed behind him, placing his sword at his neck. Lee admitted defeat at this and they resumed. The next battle only lasted 2 minutes with Lee ending up the victor by using a move his dad taught him. It was a move that used pure power, no speed to beat the opponent. It was a pure downward slash that sent a shockwave of Ki though the ground on contact, aimed at the opponent. The technique aimed at the person's feet, the result being that after continuous use, the person's feet would be too damaged to keep them stable. It worked like a charm. Lee won after Drew's feet gave way. Even though he wasn't going full out, fighting Drew was still good training.

At the beginners group, Chrono was making good progress. They were sparring and Chrono was dominating. He seemed naturally gifted with combat; this was one of reasons according to John that Chrono had good close-combat potential with his magic. Chrono ended up winning 5 consecutive matches. Norman ended up pulling him aside after a while and asked him to give him one match. Chrono agreed and they had a single traditional style match, but only one round. Chrono made the first hit to the side of Normans neck. Norman then got both of Chrono's kidneys consecutively. Then Chrono got Normans stomach. At this, Norman used a special thrusting technique that was blindingly fast to hit the intestines, stomach and heart in the same move to claim the win. Chrono got blasted back by the attack and landed on his but. Norman went over to help him up. "Good match," said Norman. "Thanks, it was fun." Then Norman said, "You got talent. To be honest, I never expected you to hit me, let alone twice." Then Norman went over to a wooden post to his right. Norman took his sword out. He then slashed his sword next to the post but didn't hit it. Suddenly, the wood right next to the sword broke as if it was hit with a rock. "MUNITAISHU, the unseen hit. This is the basic form of a style of Swordsmanship that uses air pressure for its attacks. You are similar to me. We both have a good build for muscle, but what we lack is speed, so we need to train ourselves to be faster. This is a technique that I learned to acquire speed, along with running and wearing training weights. I want you to learn this technique. You are to master it in three days. The form is natural. You must use the speed of the sword to make a vacuum right behind the tip, and then stop it right before you hit your mark. The vacuum will result, along with a hard stop, in a blast of air pressure that should crack the wood." He gave Chrono four weights. "Each of them in only 1 kg, about 10 times as less as mine. Master it using them and good results will come." He walked away. Chrono was stunned, he didn't even get past three days of kendo and he was expected to learn some special move in three days. He thought to himself it wouldn't hurt and he put on the 1 kg weights, (5 pounds) he felt an immediate difference. He could hardly move the sword up and down more than a few times. Remembering that Lee's were more than 100 times as heavy, he started to feel light headed. He couldn't understand how it was humanly possible. He started to get to work.

During Lee and Chrono's Kendo Practice, Sakura and Nanoha were at Archery practice. It seemed everyone was improving. More and more people were getting bull's eyes, which was good seeing as you needed 10 archers for a full team. Susan had started the session off with an explanation of an Archery tournament. It worked as followed. At the start of an Archery tournament, each person from both teams would shoot 1 arrow. The top half of each team with the highest accuracy would advance. The next round consisted of five, two person sets, one from each team. They would each be given three arrows and the one with the most points wins. In the result of a tie, each archer would shoot one arrow until a clear victor was decided. The team with the most winning archers won. In other words, the team consecutively needed 3 wins to claim victory.

When she was done, she handed out uniforms, which were blue Hakamas, with no separation, (Hakama= samurai pants. No separation means they are like a dress.) They also wore a white kimono shirt on top. They were the traditional clothes of female archers, who descended from priestesses, according to Susan. These were only to be worn for tournaments and matches. They would have a match every Saturday unless otherwise notified, including this Saturday. They had only 2 large tournaments, not including district and nationals. One was in 2 months at the beginning of November, which was an exhibition tournament meant for scouts. The other one was near the end of the year. It wasn't an official tournament but the school that won it gained a lot of prestige and the winning prize money for their schools archery program. This tournament was meant to honor a local deity, who according to legend saved the land by sealing a cursed spirit with an arrow. They won the exhibition tournament last year but lost miserably in the second round at the tournament to honor the local god. They planned to win both this year. They also had rivalry tournaments between other schools individually periodically throughout the year. These tournaments were much more simple. A team of nine archers would go against a second one from another school individually. They would then hold a three round shoot off with each grouping, consisting of three arrows. Whatever school the winner belonged to got a point and the team with he most individual wins got the gold.

They got to practice. She said she wasn't going to announce who was going to be in the tournament until Friday. This was to make them all work harder in hopes of being chosen. Sakura was working hard to get better. She had finally got her magic under control and, with help from Nanoha giving her special training, kept it from coming out unconsciously. She was now getting a bull's eye about 3 out of four times, but improving fast. What made her happy was that she was doing it herself, without her magic. Even though her magic was a part of her, it was something that not everyone had and thus felt like cheating for using the advantage. She also knew she wouldn't improve if she relied on it. Nanoha felt the same way. She was improving too. She had her magic under control from beginning so she had been improving all along. She was now almost always able to get a bull's eye. By the end of the day, Sakura had a rhythm going and was getting straight bull's eyes. Same thing with Nanoha. They ended practice about 2 hours later and headed for the front gates.


	29. Lance's Strength, Fates winning Gamble

The Haruno Chronicles

Ch. 29 This is an action packed chapter. Location: Chicago in the good ol US of A. After Andy somewhat activates the stone, Lee goes to seal it, but meets up with a surprise. Fate is back and ready to fight. It turns into an all out war but wait, Lance isn't missing a chance for fame. As Lee goes Beast, Lance goes otherworldly, literally.

Disclaimer: Everything, material, characters, locations ect… are property of the respective people.

Chapter 29 – Lance's hidden strength, Fates winning gamble

Lee and Chrono, along with Andy, who had joined the robotics club, were already there, waiting for them. "Good, now all we need to do is wait-," he was cut off by Sarah who appeared out of nowhere, literally, as she teleported behind the post. "Okay, as I was saying, now that we are all here, we can go." He told them to grab his hand, which they all did and they teleported all at once into a clearing in a thicket in the park that Nanoha recognized as the place that Lance and she had first camped out. They got out of the woods and onto the street. They were then led to a house across the street. It was a plain, regular white house and when they entered, it was normal in all respects, except that Andy had used his device as a key. He said that it would accept their devices as well. "This is now the new Earth Headquarters. Well, the entrance and sleeping quarters at least." He showed them into the basement, which had a bunch of boxes in it and a double door at the end. When they approached, a screen came out of nowhere and a voice said, "Authentication." Andy put his hand on the screen, which said, "Confirmed." The door opened to reveal it was actually an elevator. They went in it and they felt it go down. It went down 100's of feet into the ground, and then the door opened. When they got out, they were right above the ARTIMIS, in a large meeting room. "This elevator can also go to the ground floor. Right now, we are in the observation deck. This is the true headquarters, obviously." He asked them to sit down and then, John, along with Lance appeared. "Good, your all here." He sat down along with Lance. "We have been monitoring the entire world for signs of the Saren Stones and we think we've got one. The thing is, unlike the last ten, this one seems to not be in Japan." They all looked confused. Lance said, "It isn't that surprising. I was already surprised that we didn't have to leave Japan to find some of them. This just means that were probably done gathering the ones near us. Now we start going global." John motioned for him to stop and Lance did. "Unfortunately, we don't have the resources to pinpoint it from here. We can only get it down to a single city. But considering a city in proportion to the entire planet, that definitely narrows the search field down a hell of a lot. We are going to send a team of four for this one. Andy, who will use his specialty to locate the seed, Lance to cover the area, Lee because I left him out of the last mission and because we need him for sealing and finally, Sakura because besides her being the only one here who can fluently understand English, the only way I got her parents to let me pick her up was to tell them she was sleeping over with Sarah. The rest of you can either use the ships training room or go back to your houses. If you want to see the battle, we will be sending the video data to your devices as we get it so just ask it to pull up the live battle feed."

They all nodded. Sarah and Nanoha left for the training room to practice some new defensive spell that Nanoha said she would teach Sarah. John, after the briefing, had agreed to help Chrono with some pointers for his kendo club, who wanted him to learn a specific technique. Chrono went to the other training room on the ARTIMIS and started to warm up. The rest of them sat down for a mission briefing. "Okay, now that we know who's doing what and where, lets get down to it." He pressed a button on the table and a screen appeared in front of them all, with a large globe in the middle. "Okay then, shall we begin then? We have pinpointed it to the U.S.A." the screen in front of them followed along with everything John said, "With our best tracking method, we have pinpointed it down to a single city. A place called 'Chicago' or something like that. Two things, while there, you are to not talk with anyone, but are not going to transform until a barrier has been raised. If you are in a situation where you must speak, speak something in rapid Japanese. If that fails, you have permission to render the guy unconscious in any way you can think of, we will handle the repercussions so just don't make a big scene. We will teleport you there but your responsible for the return trip. Seal the stone, and I give you authority to attack anyone that gets in your way after you present them with a surrender ultimatum."

He sent them out immediately. They went to the teleport room where they had already set up the destination. They were teleported and when they next opened their eyes, they were on the top of a very tall skyscraper in the middle of a city with a bunch of weird signs. They were all in some other language that Sakura said was English. She was the only one in there 'group' that ever understood English enough to actually use it. They went in the door to their right and down the elevator inside to appear on the ground level of the building, which ended up being a department store. Before Sakura got sucked into shopping, they pulled her out. "But how often am I going to be in America. I need to buy SOMETHING." Lee said, "First of all, we are on a mission, not a vacation and second, if you really wanted to, you could just teleport here anytime you wanted anyway so at least wait for us to finish up before going crazy. Besides, I don't think they accept foreign currency." Sakura, sad but defeated followed as they walked to the pre determined destination.

They headed for an observation tower that was closed for the day. Luckily, The mage assigned on watch in this city had gotten a job there and had unlocked the door for them. They entered and took the elevator up. "Okay," said Andy. "I need some room so if you could step back." They did and he transformed. He was now in a white and black blazer with matching pants. He had a spade emblem on the left pocket of the blazer. Then, pitch-black fingerless gloves appeared on each hand and a pair of sunglasses appeared on his face. Then, a spade symbol on his left hands glove said, "OKUNINUSHI, ready to go." Chrono looked for a second, then said, "Where's your staff." Andy held up his hand. "In it's regular form, this is may staff, these gloves and the sunglasses. If need be, I can turn him into a staff." His gloves and glasses disappeared and reformed as a staff with a black body and a white head in the shape of a "Y". He then turned it back into the gloves and glasses. "I may not be a combat intensive mage like most of you but I do have my talents." A light blue magic circle, also known as aquamarine, appeared under him. Then he said, "**AREA SEARCH, OMINIPITANT SPECIAL.**" He started to search the area and said, "For what I lack on in power, I make up for with the best search and transformation magic in the entire T.S.A.B. I have this special ability to see everything from everything's perspective. I could be looking out of a piece of grass or a cloud or just some air. Then my magic can compile all of that from every perspective and analyze it in any way I want. I could be by magical signatures, physical objects or whatever. It is much more powerful than normal search magic. I can even search different worlds. Even I don't completely understand it but I can tell you it is something you can rely on." They all looked at him in amazement. Whenever Lee did an **AREA SEARCH**, he could look through a few blocks at most and he could only search for something specific. He rarely used it.

Andy started his search. He started to glow as he searched through the city for the Stone. He couldn't sense its location clearly though, which told him it went underground. He started to search the complicated network of subways below the city. It was tiring, looking through endless miles of underground tunnels. "Its close. I have almost got it. By the way, just a warning, when I do find it, it will automatically activate as a self defense mechanism. It will easily sense the search magic's presence and at that exact moment, I will need Lance to activate the barrier." They all looked at him incredulously. "Don't you think that was important to tell us BEFORE you started," said Lance. "Sorry, I forgot. I'm only human so as this planets expression goes, shoot me." Lance retaliated with, "I just might take you up on that offer." Lee and Sakura went out to where Andy had already said the stone was. Then they waited. Lance reluctantly stayed behind because Lee told him too due to his expertise not being advantageous in crowded or small areas.

"Almost, I've tracked it down to one route. A little more, a little more, I'VE GOT IT! Lance, quickly, the barrier!" Lance was already on it. He had felt a surge of magic surge up from somewhere a few miles away and had raised a barrier instinctively. He covered the whole city for good measure. Suddenly, a black pillar of magic appeared out of the ground. It had come from deep underground by the depth of the hole. Then suddenly, the Saren Stone appeared. A light gray shield casing covered it and it suddenly started firing random blasts of magic. They weren't strong and were easily blocked by Lee and Sakura who were at the scene. Lee found that the shield was nothing either. He shot a regular **SHINNING BUSTER** at it and it shattered.

"This is too easy," said Lee. Andy then said mentally, "_It may have not fully awakened yet. I forced it active so it may not be at the final, more dangerous stages. Just count yourself lucky and seal it already."_ Lee decided that he might as well. Heck if they finished early, they could hang around for a while like Sakura wanted and that would make everyone happy. Lee prepared to seal the Saren Stone. "**SEALING MODE set up."** His staff grew four large golden wings from the base of the head. He pointed it at the Saren Stone. "SEALING," said Haruno. A small gold beam of magic energy shot out of the staff. It hit the Stone straight on but too everyone's surprise, it went right through it. There was a hole in the center of it now but it wasn't sealed yet. "What the! That's never happened before."

Suddenly, the stone started to blink. Andy found this strange and took a closer look at it via his search magic. "It's magic Level is rising dramatically and is all focusing on one spot. The magic is ranked SSS+ in power. What does it all mean? What's going to happen?" Then it all clicked. He suddenly went into a panic. "EVERYONE, GET OUTSIDE THE BARRIER _NOW!_ IT'S GOING TO BLOW." He said it so everyone could hear it. "NOT EVEN YOU GUYS COULD SURVIVE A BLAST THIS BIG. HURRY!" They didn't waste time. Andy said that they had a minute at most. They needed to get outside the barrier and reinforce it big time. They all met at the top of the barrier. Lance was going to make a momentary hole in the barrier for them to exit from. Then, he was going to make a second barrier outside this one and reinforce this one.

They all exited the barrier quickly and moved into position. First, Sakura made a second barrier. It wasn't what you would call strong. Sakura, despite being a SSS+ ranked mage was nowhere near as good with barriers as Lance. He was supposed to be better than most the Generals at it. But the barrier was enough to conceal the area incase the first one broke. Then, Lance started to power up his already existent barrier. "_Steel, iron, tin; Volcano, magma, fire; Granite, diamond Earth; Electric, Thunder; Lightning. Wind, Cyclone, Air; Become the invincible fortress that acts as my shield. __**ULTIMATE DEFENSE**_**, HEAVENS DIVIDE!!!"** Suddenly, Lance started to glow bright green. A huge green magic circle appeared under Lance. At the same time, the barrier itself started to shine and started to get thicker. Everyone could feel the magic emanating from this barrier. The level of magic was easily the equivalent of a SSS+ ranked attack. Magic was literally pulsing from it. "This is my most powerful barrier. I can only maintain this for about a minute at most at this size though; still, I hope that will be enough to hold it in. I have only used it twice before. The first time was when I learned it. The second time was with Nanoha during our famous battle 5 years ago. It hasn't failed me once."

The barrier was set up and they were waiting. Back at the ship, they had been monitoring the entire event. At this point, the magic that was being emanated from Lance's barrier in America was strong enough for John, Chrono, Sarah and Nanoha to feel, thousands of miles away in Japan. They all went rushing to the bridge to see what was happening. John asked for a status report. "Right sir. We have got two power readings and they are both off the scale. The first is from a source from within a barrier Lance created. For some reason, we can't get any more info. We can only tell it is around 1.7 billion and rising. The second reading shockingly is from Lance himself. He put up some weird unidentifiable barrier and his Power shot through the roof. The barrier on the defense reading says it is above a SSS+ ranked defense. I didn't even think that a barrier like that existed. It isn't listed in our database and it is unlike anything we've ever seen. Usually, a space-time barrier just alters space around it. This one seems to be an entirely different dimension altogether. It spreads 360˚ all the way around the other source. Is that even possible? It's like he's created a new dimension of something." John looked taken aback. Even he had never heard of such a spell. He never even heard of anything of the sort. It wasn't supposed to be possible to create dimensions either. It was mind-boggling. He told them to keep an eye on the barrier and to keep doing every type of scan they could to analyze it. John then went over to Nanoha, "I know you two have known each-other since you were kids so maybe you could enlighten me to what the hell that thing Lance made is?" "I couldn't tell you where he learned it or what it was myself. I have only seen him do it once. He used it 5 years ago to save my life, along with the lives of 100 billion people during the Energy Wave incident. If he hadn't used that barrier to contain the damage resulted in my attack colliding with the monsters attack, the dimensional Shift would still have occurred in full. I don't know how but that barrier stopped it. Thought Lance didn't wake up for a while after he used it. He almost destroyed his linker core." John didn't know what to say, none of them did so instead, they just kept watching the monitor for a new development.

"Whoa, this is weird," said Andy, trying to search inside the barrier. "Are you having trouble searching through the barrier?" said Lee. "No, I can see inside well enough. Its just when I look inside the barrier, I feel like I'm looking across dimensions, like my mind disappears from my body completely. It's kind of a creepy feeling actually. I've never felt like this before, never." Lee looked at Lance who was holding up the barrier. It seemed to be taking up a lot of his magic. Unfortunately, Lance said this spell wouldn't work if Lee transferred some of his magic to it.

"Brace yourself Lance. It looks like it is about to pop. 5; 4; 3; 2; 1!" Lance prepare for impact. Even from within the dome, you could feel and hear the explosion. It was powerful. Lee remembered a power like that once before, and he had created it. It was around the same level as his** SHOOTING STAR,** **RAGNAROK BREAKER**, and the first combination attack he had ever used. It was a little weaker but not much. Lance struggled as he tried to keep the barrier together. It was shinning so brightly now that it looked whiter that green. Then Lance poured it all out. The barrier turned white with a light green aura. The power was enormous. It took everything he had to keep it together. The blast was pushing from the inside, trying to break out. Lance's vision was getting hazy. He was starting to lose his hearing to and felt like he was going under. He felt his hands start to spurt out blood from how tightly he was holding them under the strain of keeping the whole thing together.

It lasted about 15 seconds, and then the blast subsided. Andy confirmed that the power had died down enough to release the barrier. Relieved, Lance stopped his spell and then, right there, in mid-air, he fainted and started to fall. Andy used a support spell to create three magic circles right where Lance was about to land. They acted like a soft spring as Lance hit the top one. It went down with him but when it hit the second one, it slowed down a lot and then it hit the third one, which slowed him down so much that when he hit the ground, the force had been reduced to nothing. When he hit the ground, the aquamarine circles disappeared and Lance was on the ground, unconscious but otherwise safe. "Nice save," said Lee. "Simple impact reduction spell. Learned it a few weeks ago actually. I've wanted to use that during a mission for a while now to see if it was worth learning. I'm no happy to know that I defiantly did not waste my time." Andy said he would fly down to check on Lance. Lee had to find the real stone and Sakura had to maintain her barrier. She had gotten a rhythm for it now and had been able to make it a bit more stable, still nothing compared to Lance's though.

They looked at the area that had been concealed by the barrier. There was absolutely nothing left. It was all completely annihilated. All there was was a flat barren wasteland with a crater where the fake stone had first appeared. Lee flew off to where the fake stone had come from. According to Andy, the real one had to have been close to supply the power. When Lee looked at the area that was near the edge of the crater, he saw it. It was floating in the middle of the crater. Lee prepared to seal it. "SEALING." For the second time that day, he shot his thin gold beam at the Saren stone. Unfortunately, this proved to be as successful as the first try when a blast of Yellow electric magic blasted Lee's spell into oblivion. Lee looked up to see Fate Tesstorosa. She had her staff out and pointed it at Lee. She didn't say anything but Lee understood her quite clearly. It was written across her face, especially in her sad blue eyes. It said, "This one is mine. Fight or move aside." Lee answered her in a similar fashion by changing his staff into Shooting mode and pointed it at Fate.

She made the first charge and turned her staff into a giant energy scythe and made a good swing at Lee. Lee retreated to the ground to avoid it. "**BLITZ SHOT,"** he fired of blasts of very fast gold magic like a machine gun. He moved his staff to follow Fate who was running in the air. She then retreated to the ground as well and came rushing at him. Her scythe started to shine. "**BURNING SLASH."** She swung at Lee. "**BREAK IMPACT,"** Lee countered Fates attack by swinging his own staff, now in normal mode at her staff to do a double cancelation. She jumped back and shot her **PLASMA SMASHER**, to which Lee countered with his **BLITZ SHOT V2.** Lee's being much faster had more momentum when the two collided and ripped straight through hers and landed a hit. Unfortunately, Fate had placed two **PHOTON LANCERS** behind Lee earlier and they fired from behind, hitting Lee as well.

Fate then said, "**THUNDER RAGE: BUSTER EXTENSION."** She gathered a sphere of magic in front of her and fired it horizontally, unlike her normal vertical version. Also, it seemed more compressed. "**SHINNING BUSTER**," Lee shot to counter, hitting each other in mid-air and creating a huge explosion. Lee teleported up high into the sky and summoned hundreds of gold spheres. "**FLASH SHIFT**," he rained his magic bullets down on where Fate was. Unfortunately, she teleported up too and shot a **PLASMA LANCER** at Lee that made a nice hit and sent him back a few feet. Lee tried to retaliate but then Fate was charging at him with her Staff in ZAMBER MODE where it changed into a giant sword about twice as big as she was with her magic as the blade. Lee had to bring out his own sword. "**MSD, ignition start."** His barrier jacket changed to a more slim and aerodynamic version and his staff became a sword. He went blow for blow with Fate. It quickly grew into a high speeds battle.

"I know your trying to help an important person to you, but don't you think this is going a bit to far. I am sure they wouldn't want you risking your life for this." Fate responded mentally while they were still locked in combat. "_To see their smile, I will risk my life.__**"**_"**JET ZAMBER." **Suddenly, her already huge sword grew three times as big as she flew backwards. She then swung it down with some much speed that it was all Lee could do to block. This ended up being the worst possible thing to have done. When the giant blade mage contact, it pounded Lee with a huge, powerful shockwave that sent him rocketing into the ground. "**RIOT ZAMBER.**" Her sword began to glow brightly and she started swinging the now giant sword, sending waves of magic at Lee that sliced the ground. Lee countered them all with waves of his own from his sword. Fate then changed her staff back into Device form. Lee, anticipating her next move changed into normal form as well. He guessed right as Fate charged up a more powerful **THUNDER RAGE.** He prepared for the attack. She shot her pillar of compressed yellow electric magic at Lee. "**ROUND SHIELD: EXTENDED."** Lee didn't mean to say it but the word sort of came out. Suddenly, two gold magic circles appeared, one above him and one below him. Then, a thick transparent veil of gold connects the two so Lee is surrounded on all sides. It completely protected him from Fates attack, leaving him ready for a counter attack.

**"SHINING BUSTER!"** He shot an exceptionally powerful Buster at Fate who was exhausted from her last attack. "**THUNDER SMASHER**" She shot an equally powerful blast of magic that collided. They were now pushing on each other, trying to but through. It was an even match. "Haruno!" "OK," said Haruno. Suddenly, Lee's busters powered doubled is size and power. It ripped through Fates attack, but she had put up a shield in defense. "**HAWKEN SABER,"** Fate shot her energy scythes blade like a boomerang. Lee shot a **GLOWING SHOOTER **at it but to his surprise, it sliced his attack in half and continued. Lee didn't know what to do. He shot a bunch of different attacks to no avail.

Lee was suddenly struck by inspiration. He started to focus quickly. He started to charge up his **BREAK IMPACT**. Then he focused as much as he could on Chrono. Suddenly, he felt a different attack, along with his own fill up inside his staff. Fate decided to try and do a one hit. "**BLITZ RUSH, POWER CHARGE EXTENSION."** Her flying boomerang blade then became bigger and faster. Lee could also feel a dramatic increase in power. Lee was ready for it though. "**BREAK IMPACT and GRAVITON STRIKE COMBINATION ATTACK, **_**ZERO POINT, BLIND CRASH!"**_He felt his staff power up and prepared to strike. He swung the staff at the giant flying blade. There was a big explosion as Lee's staff hit the blade. It created a shockwave that blew both Lee and Fate back. He readjusted himself and flew back to confront Fate again.

Fate didn't know what to do. She was being bested in all categories. Her talents were in speed and direct confrontation. She was also a fairly good mid-ranged mage as well but the problem was that were also his expertise. What was more, her opponent's long range and speed were also good. She couldn't use an **AMF **either. He would best her at that too. He was a universally strong mage. Even his defenses and teleportation, not to mention Wide area magic were top notch too. The only thing she knew him to be bad at were binds and other support magic from a previous fight. Most mages were not this universally good. He had to have one weakness. Also, he had an unfair bonus to be able to do Combination Attacks, which were far more power than normal spells. They were his finishers usually. Then it clicked, what she needed to do.

"It's time to end this!" Fate yelled. She changed her Staff into its large sword ZAMBER mode. Then she started to charge up a hell of a lot of magic in the blade. It was growing in power. To Lee, it was well over 1.5 billion. It was at least nearing the 2 billion ranges. Lee knew his only chance would be another combination attack. He focused as hard as he could on Chrono again, thinking of another good idea. He focused on him as hard as he could. Then, he charged his own **PURE LIGHT BREAKER**. Then, the blue orb of Chrono's attack appeared next to it. He charged them both up to the max he could do.

Back to where Sakura was, she had flown down while still supporting her barrier to see how Lance was. Andy had done a check. He was going to be out cold for a while but otherwise would be fine. Then Andy decided to do a check up on Lee. He had known for sometime already that the other mage had appeared and had started fighting Lee. He did another scan. "Oh, holy crap, what does Lee think he is doing!" "What is he doing?" "Are you dead, how can you not feel that." She focused for a second and suddenly felt a jolt of power from where Lee was. This was the big one. He was planning to finish this now with one blow, and a big blow at that. He was not holding back.

Back in a Hanger in Japan, everyone was at the bridge of the ship. John had felt Lee's power spike from where they were thousands of miles away. "I want a reading NOW!" One of the mages got on it and reported back a few seconds later. "Sir, it broke 2 billion, 2.1, 2.3, now at 2.4 billion." Then the reading suddenly stopped going up. "Sir, it has peaked at 2.6 billion. I've never seen a reading this high. That barrier is nowhere near strong enough to contain it. It will rip through it like wet tissue." John looked shocked. It was more powerful than the one he did at FRETICA. He was starting to wonder how much Lee had grown since then. "I want the highest Level Dimensional Barrier around there NOW. I want that place severed from normal space and a double thick AMF layer inside that. Make it so anything that hits it dissolves. " Suddenly a second reading popped up. "Sir, I'm picking up a second reading. This ones at 2.4 sir, but rising very slowly." John looked shocked. A second reading almost at Z ranked. Even he could barley reach those levels and that required going full out. He had only hit 2.8 once and it resulted in a disaster." Sir, the barrier squad has arrived on sight and has erected both barriers. They are ready.

Back to where Sakura was, she had felt her barrier disappear and was replaced by a double layer of an AMF. "Looks like they noticed," said Andy. "They have separated this space from normal space completely and put up a magic cancelation barrier for extra precaution. There will be no getting outside this barrier without being able to rip through dimensions so were pretty much done for." "Would a portal work?" "Sakura, you serious. Can you do that?" "Yes, but I am not the best, but yes." Andy sighed in relief; "You are about to save all our skins, make one to the outside before the attack blows us to bits." Sakura hastily made a short-range portal to right outside both the barriers and they walked through, Andy levitating Lance's unconscious body. Once they were outside the barrier, Sakura hastily closed her portal. "Good, now it's all up to Lee." Then he made a screen that showed Lee and the other mage charging up. "I can display my search magic as well, now lets see what happens."

Lee was done fusing the two orbs into a single attack. It was a bright orb with blue flames as an aura. Fate was done with her charge to. Lee was ready, "_In the core of the egg, a dragon sleeps. It comes to light and grows in strength; now, embodiment of my strength, shoot forward at my command. _**PURE LIGHT BREAKER and DRAGON CRASH FINAL COMBINATION ATTACK,**** HEAVENS DRAGON **_**BLAST!!!!!!"**_He fired his attack. It even surprised him. It wasn't a blast that shot out but a giant, golden dragon with blue eyes, wings and teeth. It charged at Fate, roaring as it did. It was a sight to behold. It roared as it charged into Fate.

This was what Fate had been waiting for, but she never expected it to be this powerful. She wasn't sure if her plan was going to work but it was too late to back out now. "**DEFENCER PLUS: EXTENDED DEFENSE." **A powerful looking barrier placed itself around Fate. Then she started chanting, "_Arcus Cultus Aegeas, gods of thunder, be my shield and my line to life. Arcus Cultus Aegeas shield me from my enemy. _**THUNDER VOID BARRIER!" **A second barrier appeared around Fate, this one was much stronger. It was glowing brightly and felt almost as powerful as the one Lance had made, except that this one was just big enough to cover Fate, while Lances covered an entire city. She then braced herself as the dragon collided into the double barrier with Fate inside. Lee had put all of his magic into this attack. The dragon hit Fate and the rest of the attack continued and hit the barrier.

"All barriers holding, Point of contact with the AMF layer, 3, 2, 1-," Everyone felt a giant shockwave all of a sudden. "What the devil!?" said John, falling over. "Sir, this is impossible, the attack hit the AMF and didn't dissolve. In fact, it's ripping through it. This in insane, I never heard of this happening before." John's eyes grew wide. He too had never heard of any attack able to survive contact with an AMF. "Have the barrier squad put up another two layers of barrier outside the first and reaching into space. We can't block that power so were going to hide it." "SIR!" said the mage. The barrier squad put up two very large barriers so tall they reached into outer space. John then looked back at the screen to see. He saw a Golden Dragon ripping through the barriers. "My Lord."

The dragon pierced the AMF layer and the first barrier. After piercing the first barrier, Andy and Sakura saw it fly over their heads. They were in awe as the attack passed them overhead. It ripped through the other two barriers like wet tissue and entered space. There, it met with a dimensional barrier as it exploded, sending shockwaves throughout space. The explosion was enormous, like watching a huge atomic bomb explosion in space. It lit up the sky as everyone watched. John and the rest of the crew went outside the hanger to look at it. It lit the sky up with gold and blue. It was like a giant fireworks display.

Back at the sight, Lee was exhausted. He was barely holding consciousness. He was looking at the spot that Fate was in before the attack. All he saw was a large cloud of smoke. Then he saw a shine. Then the wind came and swept the smoke away. His eyes widened as he saw a cracked Yellow barrier, very damaged, the first layer gone but definitely still intact. He was out of magic, about to faint and she had survived. Suddenly, the barrier shattered and Fate appeared, damaged a bit but fine nonetheless. "Wondering how I survived?" said Fate. "I'll tell you. You have been using those Combination attacks as your finishers for quite a while so it was easy to guess that you would use one again. I'll admit that one was way more than I expected but I was expecting it. Therefore, I stored up a vast amount of magic quickly to make a stronger defense. Whenever you use on of those as a finisher, you hold nothing back and are severely weakened when you're done, drained of magic and about to collapse. I knew if I survived that one attack, it would be easy sailings. As I see, I won my bet, though I didn't come out completely unscathed. Your blast did penetrate the barrier. If I hadn't defended with a third barrier quickly, you would have won."

Lee knew she was right. He didn't even know why he was still standing. Fate then held out a very damaged Baradiche. She then started to charge up a final attack. "**TRIDENT **_**SMASHER**_**!" **Suddenly, 3 large magic circles appear, one on top, two below so it looked like a triangle. Then, a large sphere of yellow, electrified magic appeared in the center if each one. "_**FIRE!"**_All three fired at the same time, shooting three powerful blasts of magic at Lee. Lee couldn't block them; he was all out of magic. They hit and resulted in a large explosion. When it cleared, Lee was unharmed. He didn't know how, but Haruno had jumped in between Lee and the attack and of it's own will, put up a barrier to protect Lee. The shield it had produced was cracked through. Suddenly, Lee's staff fell to pieces and the blue marble that was Haruno fell to the ground and cracked in two.

Lee dropped to his knees and picked up both parts of the blue marble amongst the rubble. Suddenly, Fate sealed the real stone, number 15 and then number 21 flew out of the two broken pieces of Haruno and flew into the also damaged Baradiche. Fate vanished a split second after that into thin air, Stones and all. Lee then lost consciousness on the spot. He fell to the ground, exhausted holding a broken Haruno in his hands.


	30. A Broken Haruno Awakens

The Haruno Chronicles

Ch. 30 Now, Lee, Device-less and depressed trained restlessly until there is a call to arms. But Lee doesn't go due to his lack of a device, or does he. Find out. (I realize that this summary may sound corny.)

Disclaimer: Everything, material, characters, locations ect… are property of the respective people.

Chapter 30 – A Broken Haruno Awakens

"Lee, Lee!" Sakura was running to where Lee was on the ground. Andy and a very weary Lance followed behind her. They saw the battlefield. Lee was at the bottom of a HUGE crater in the ground. Big enough to fit all of Tokyo in. "It's no good. He's out of it, but by the pulse, he is definitely all right." Then Lance spotted the remains of the shattered staff. "Oh lord!" They were scattered everywhere, tiny parts mixed in. Then he noticed the two marble haves in Lee's hands. "I don't want to be the one to tell him the bad News," said Andy. "Do you really think there's no chance? You know, of fixing it." Andy looked at him woefully, "I can't see it. I've seen devices broken before and they weren't ever even close to this condition. I mean look; the core is broken in half. It's impossible to replace to the core. There isn't anything left of the data." Lance looked shocked and saddened. Lee was going to be pissed when he learned the fate of his device. "I don't understand, what are you saying?" said Sakura. "Were saying that Lee has just lost his trusted companion. its completely destroyed beyond repair. There's nothing we can do."

Sakura looked sad. She knew Lee wasn't going to like it either. They couldn't even tell the extent of the damage. Even unconscious, Lee was holding the fragments of Haruno so tightly that not even with all three of them working together could they pry it out to examine. "Well, no use doing anything here. Sakura." Sakura knew what he was asking. She got up and, as tired as she was, she made a portal directly into the hanger. They went through, carrying Lee and a second later were in the hanger, outside the ship entrance. Ass soon as they were through, a bunch of mages from the magical repair squad went through Sakura's portal to where the demolished American city was to fix it before the Barrier team gave way. They only had one level of barrier left.

"LEE!" said John, Jumping from another floor 3 stories up and landing safely, running towards Lee. "Hurry, get him to the Infirmary on the ship." They levitated Lee by magic and hastily went onto the ship and straight to the Infirmary. Lee was placed on a bed and as soon as he had been. John and Sarah started to pour all of their magic into Lee and healing him. It took a constant hour for them to finish, and even then when they were almost drained of magic, Lee was still unconscious. Though, all of the damage except the magical damages to his Linker core, which wasn't that extensive had been healed, at least the major stuff. He was bruised all over and covered in small scratches but they had stopped the bleeding. Finally, the machine along with a ships doctor said that all Lee needed now was a few hours of rest.

John had called Chrono's parents to tell them that he was sleeping over so that he could wait with them for Lee to wake up. He also called Mary so that she could come over too. She rushed to the house entrance as fast as she could. She went into the basement were Andy had gone to meet her. He opened the elevator and they headed down to the docking level. She entered the infirmary a bit later. She gasped as she saw Lee, torn and damaged on the bed. John went and hugged her and said, "Don't worry, he's perfectly fine. No broken bones or shattered organs. He's just a bit battle worn and needs some rest." This didn't stop her from crying as she went to her son's bedside.

They waited there for hours. During that time, John started up a conversation with Lance. "Lance, I have to say that Lee wasn't the only impressive one out there today. You were pretty impressive with that barrier." Lance blushed and said, "I never like using it though unless I have too. No matter how I use it, I always fainted when I was done. It is a double-edged sword, or shield in this case. It provides unparallel protection but your defenseless afterwards. It is the type of thing that doesn't work unless you have great friends to back you up when you fall." John said, "That's what friends are for. By the way, can you tell me more about that barrier? We analyzed it and still haven't been able to tell quite what it is. It is unlike anything that we have ever seen. There's nothing about it in our database either."

Lance smiled, "No, I don't imagine there would be because as far as I know, I'm the only one who has used it in over 100,000 years. Or should I say the only one who has tried and been able to. There's a good story that goes along with this." "Well we need a way to pass the time. Care to tell it too me." Everyone gathered around, having nothing better to do so Lance started. "This was a long time ago, when I was 7 and already mastering my magic. Since an early age, I have been good with all types of defensive magic. I learned fast and grew quickly. I was also at that time just starting to learn the trade of my people. My planet, Maral's citizens are archeologists. There is an excessive amount of ruins on the planet. Many are from our people's ancestors but others were from other planets all together. There are even a few that we are pretty sure are from Azhard. That is where this story begins; in a ruin that we think came from Azhard. It was only my 2nd or 3rd time excavating with my dad out in the field. This was a particularly large ruin of a building. It was 90% underground and mostly intact. Some walls had caved in due to the weight of the topsoil but the contents were all preserved. We went down into the underground dwelling and found all the usual stuff, a few stories about Azhard, some of their currency, clothes, furniture, paintings, nothing special. Then my dad stumbled across a secret room by accident. Inside, there were a bunch of scrolls. Most of them had rotted away but one of them was still intact so he took it with him. After a while longer, we exited and went home to study our finds. My dad translated the scroll. They were instructions on how to do a spell. My dad, who was also very talented tried to do the spell but failed. He brought some of his friends over and they all tried the spell too and failed. And this wasn't normal failing either; it was like the spell was rejecting them when they tried to use it. It pretty much pushed them away. The only person who didn't get hurt or pushed away when trying to do the spell was me, so my dad gave me the translated instructions. They also had a description."

Lee took out a scroll from his pocket, "I like to think of it as a good luck charm." He handed it to John, who opened it. It had been translated so he could read it. _"This spell, Heavens Divide is the ultimate defense. It will provide the user with a perfect defense that shall not be penetrated. This spell is unlike any other barrier ever created. It creates its own domain (dimension scribbled underneath it) to completely cut off the protected space. Thus making it impossible to be broken. For all the benefit, this spell will drain the user of all magic for a period of 3 yetus ("about an hour and a half" scribbled below). Be warned to not use lightly. This spell, for each use will devour the users soul, ("linker core" is scribbled beneath). Allow 3 days of recovery. Fail to do so and you shall lose your power forever."_

John gave the scroll back to Lance, who pocketed it. Then he continued, "So anyway, as I was the only one who the spell accepted at the time, my dad gave me this scroll and I practiced to try and get it. It took me a year to master it though. Before I mastered it, I spent a good deal of my free time on learning it. Everyone in town told me to give up and that there was no way I could master a spell no one else could. I almost did a few times, especially around the tenth month of practice. But, when I was eight, I had mastered it, though I only did the completed version once as a test and to prove the townspeople wrong, successfully I might add. So now I have learned a spell from a 100,000 year lost civilization and have it at my disposal."

Everyone was listening with interest. Then John said, "I see. I have heard of a few spells that chose their casters. Is there anyone else that can use it?" "No, I am pretty sure that I am the only one who can use that spell. I have shown this spell to others, countless people; I even brought it to Spellcon a few years ago to share at an unusual spells event and still no one. I am as far as I know the only person alive able to use it." "Well it's a good thing you were chosen," said Nanoha suddenly, "If you hadn't known that spell, I would be dead along with a significant chuck of dimensions. Remember, that spell contained the explosion from my Breaker and the monsters attack." John looked over the data again, "Well, I am glad you know it out of a number of people I can think of but still, it is an odd spell. It breaks 2 of the Laws of Magical Prowess. The first is that it can create a separate space entirely. You can enlarge it if it already exists, make more if you have some but never create from nothing. The second is the Law of Consequence. A spell can damage a Linker core to the point that it no longer can support magic but a spell has never completely destroyed a linker core before, there were always fragments, but according to this, it just ups and disappears. It is not a spell to take lightly." Lance nodded in confirmation.

Suddenly, somewhere around midnight, Lee woke up and sat up in bed. This simple action was so alarming that chair went flying as people ran to his bedside. "You okay dear?" said his mother, hugging him and feeling his forehead. "Don't seem to be sick, de you want something to eat, drink maybe?" John walked forward and patted his wife on the shoulder, "What I think he needs right now is some breathing room, why don't you give him a moment." She yielded reluctantly. Then Lee said, "Where am I, did I win, what happened?" Everyone looked around apprehensively at each other, and then Chrono said, "No one blames you Lee. It was a good effort. I mean, seriously, it was definitely overkill but you put your best into it. That other mage just happened to be lucky or something." "That was no fluke or bad luck. She knew what she was doing the entire time. She preplanned it all along. I was caught dead in her trap, heck; I set it up for her. I can't believe how stupid I was." John then said, "I will have none of that. You put your best out there. You used your most powerful attack to date, which I might add hit 2.8 and was classified as a Z rank, and have become the first person in history to break through an AMF from the inside using sheer power. As Chrono said, live and learn. This just gives you a reason to train harder. No one wins every time; even me. I lost to my dad before. Just get back up and learn."

Lee tried to get up from his bed when John ran and pushed him back down to a lying position. "Sorry, my bad let me rephrase that. Just get back up and learn _after_ you get some rest from a tiring battle." Lee looked around and said, "Oh yeah, where's Haruno. I remember a blast of magic but nothing after that, its all a blur. Did one of you get it for me?" They all gave each other an apprehensive stare that made Lee worry. "What's wrong?" Andy entered the room. "Don't hide it, it will only make it worse when he finds out." He walked over with a bag. "Here is Haruno." He tipped the bag spilling the contents into Lee's lap. A bunch of pieces of a staff fell out of the bag and on top, two halves of a blue marble. Lee's brain went into temporary shock. "I'm sorry, there was nothing we could do. It's beyond repair. I'm sorry, but this is the reality." He walked out of the room. John thought that this must be Andy's way of showing affection. He closed the door behind him.

"Are you sure this is it?" said Lee, "Can't anything be done?" John shook his head. Lee looked at it, "So how exactly did it happen?" asked Lee. John made a screen appear in front of Lee and a video started playing. It showed Lee launching the dragon at fate and making an explosion out in space. Then it showed Fate coming out of the clouds and preparing to launch her last attack. She launched the triple attack at Lee and at that point, of its own accord, Haruno, staff and all ripped away from Lee's hand and put itself plus a barrier it made automatically in between Lee and Fates attack. When the attack ended, Haruno fell to pieces and a stone drifted out, floating to Fate and she disappeared.

The screen disappeared at that point, done showing the entire video. "That there is another anomaly in its own right. There is a auto defense command in a device for emergency but I never heard of a staffs program being able to rip away from their master against their will and defend them before, almost like it could think for itself." "Almost?" said Lee. "Yes, it may be so complex that it seams like it, but devices can't think for themselves. They have super complicated personality programs but that is all they are, programs." Lee looked at the two halves of the blue marble. To him, it always seamed to be alive. It gave him advice, cheered him up and taught him so much. It even defended him when it wasn't programmed to. He just couldn't see Haruno not being a living thing. He always counted it as a sort of weird marble like friend. Haruno was always by his side and now that was gone.

"So this is it. What will happen? How will I fight? Haruno was part of me." Lance then said, "Not all mages can create their own device like you did. Some mages use storage-type devices. They're not as good as an intelligence device like Haruno was but they can get the job done until we can build you another intelligence device like Haruno." Lee sighed as he looked at the remains of his trusted companion.

They all stuck around with him until he fell asleep in the infirmary bed when they all decided that it was time to go to sleep too. John said he would stay with Lee so he told everyone to head to his apartment-room and use the bedrooms there. They helped Mary find the way. John sat down next to Lee and waited for everyone to leave. "There all gone now. Good trick, they would have never gone to sleep otherwise." Lee sat back up; "Sakura, Chrono, Sarah and Nanoha all have school tomorrow. It would be bad if they missed a day of school in their first week." John then said, "Yeah, I guess you'll know as your confined to this bed for the next 24 hours. So what's on your mind that you wanted everyone gone for?" "It's just this is hard to accept." "What, losing the battle or losing Haruno?" "Both. I felt like I let Haruno down by losing. I don't see how I can continue being a mage without Haruno." John said, "Your probably right. Lances idea won't work either. They don't make storage devices for mages of your caliber. It'll break in a heartbeat but well think of something. If you're in need of a device that bad, I bet you could use RAGING FURY. We use the same type of magic and were related so I bet it would work. I remember something about a friend of mine who lent his little sister his device and she was 100% compatible with it so he ended up giving it to her when she graduated. Now she is my Captain Commander and the peppiest, goofiest girl I know."

Lee thanked him but said that it would be too much of an inconvenience for everyone if his dad didn't have a device. "Honestly, It's not like I'm helpless without a device. I can still fight and pretty damn well if I do say so. It just feels like I'm missing something." "I know, I had that problem for a week once myself. Was stupid and ended up breaking up RAGING FURY's transformation chip, making it unable to turn into a staff or producing my barrier jacket. Ended up having to bring it to the techies back at headquarters for special repair. Took them a week to get all the parts in and until they were done, I was device less." Lee looked at his dad, "So what did you do?" John smiled. "Well, I was put on temporary leave due to my device being repaired so I did the only thing I was good at. I trained my ass off and by the time I got my device back, I had made a new technique all by myself to try out on a fixed device. Now I'm not saying to make some new killer technique like I did, your to young to be able to anyway but doing some excessive training won't hurt, especially if your on lockdown on this ship until I say your all better and I am not just talking physically. There are other scars that need healing."

Lee actually went to sleep then, thinking about what his father had said. He woke up a noon the next morning to find all his friends surrounded him. "What time is it?" said Lee, looking at the clock. It read noon. "Why'd you guys skip school for me? You'll fall behind. I'm not worried about Sakura so much but you Chrono need all the help you can get." Chrono made a witty comeback, "Don't flatter yourself, we didn't skip school for you, it's been canceled for the rest of the week." Lee looked questioningly at him, "Why?" Just then, his father walked into the room, "Because Lee, like you, I had trouble in high school and I, as a parent don't want you falling behind. I am concerned about your education you know." Sakura looked at John carefully, "So is that how you justify blowing a hole in the roof of the school with a lightning bolt. Parental concern!" "You don't have to sound so negative about it. I thought you would all like a few days off and it would give Lee time to heal without having to think about the minor details like education and Homework. With Lee's talents, those things are worth less than crud. If it was up to me, I wouldn't even bother sending him and train him full time instead but his mother squashed the idea the second I brought it up when Sora was born." "Yes, and that is because school is important for teaching us so were smart enough to not blow holes in roofs or at least aim properly." Lee turned to Chrono, "What's got her all riled up?" "Alas, she left her favorite really expensive one of a kind jacket in school yesterday and John's lightning hit our classes locker area and burnt her coat to a crisp. It was all black and charcoal like when she found it and the person who designed it died a few months ago so she will never be able to get it replaced." "Ah, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, especially if clothes are involved anyway." He watched as Sakura ranted at his father for burning her favorite coat.

For the rest of that day, John told Lee he couldn't leave the bed. His linker core, though only slightly damaged needed to heal and he still hadn't recovered all of his magic yet. His friends took turns keeping him company. Chrono spent a lot of time practicing the technique that Norman from the Kendo club wanted him to learn. John agreed that the technique suited Chrono. Chrono had a naturally good build, but was a bit bigger than Lee's. Therefore, a speed technique would help him quickly. John also, without telling Chrono increased his weights to double what they were, that was 10 pounds or 5 kg. Like he anticipated, due to his concentration on practice, he didn't even realize the difference in weight when it happened. John didn't teach Chrono like he did Lee as the style was reserved for members of the Cross family only but he still gave Chrono other hints. John also happened to know many more styles; just not as well as the Cross-style that he was willing to teach a bit of. He told Chrono about the mechanics of the attack to. "So you know the basics about the vacuum and the air pressure as a result but what he didn't know was how to use them. The air pressure's distance was equal to the size of the space that the vacuum took up so the larger the vacuum, the more distance the technique will get." He also told Chrono about how and when to use it, "This is a good attack for the less precise swordsman. Its striking point is much bigger and it is a good attack to surprise the opponent with. 4 out of 5 people wouldn't be able to see the strike of the air pressure and get hit."

What Chrono needed to work on was building his arms and legs up to the speed required for the attack. He already had the power. John made it, without telling Chrono that his weights would increase 5 kg every time he made a significant improvement on the current level. Chrono had never taken any type of Sword training before so he probably didn't know it but he was good. He was training up almost as fast as Lee. This surprised him a bit. Chrono was also an unknown sword prodigy, though John still guessed that he didn't know it yet. John then made a point of looking into to see if being a mage somehow gave you awesome sword prowess.

Back at Lee's bedside, his mother, who hadn't left his side all day, surrounded him and the current group of friends was made up of Sakura, Lance and Nanoha. Chrono and Sarah were doing their own thing down in the training rooms. He talked with them while he was in bed to pass the time, as there was nothing else to do. To make things speed up, Lance had placed an invisible walk through healing barrier around Lee that doubled a person's recovery rate. They used it in hospitals on planets with magical inhabitants to speed up their recovery from surgery and such. He talked to Lance about his weird barrier and Lance told him the story about finding the scroll and being the only one the spell _accepted_. Lance showed Lee the scroll. While still in bed, he tried the incantation but like everyone else who had tried, it ended with a failure and a small smoke cloud coming from his hand from the failed spell attempt. Lance said it was okay and that he was defiantly not the first and certainly not the last.

Lance pocketed the scroll and at that time, Sarah and Chrono, along with John came in saying they could change shifts. John took turns bringing two people at a time to the training rooms to help them practice. They needed to all keep ahead of the game if they wanted to capture the rest of the seeds and beat the lightning-based mage. Therefore, John had instituted a sort of training regiment for all of them to keep them rising. John knew that they could all improve vastly as they were all still just teenagers and one preteen. They had growing to do and so did their magic. He even thought that as they were all SSS+ ranked mages now, they may even be able to break Z rank when they get older. John hated to admit it but they were all several times stronger than he was at their age. It took his until he was 25 to get to a SSS+ rank status and they all were there less than a year after they discovered magic (excluding Nanoha and Lance). Though it was partly due to Johns magic weight training. It took him a while to develop those and they were also the reason he achieved SSS+ ranking. Though, as of now, he had never shown anyone his full power. He had gone all out only once during a power level measurement about ten years ago when he became a Captain Commander and it was at 320 million as a general mage emission level. He had also once did an attack out of complete desperation that hit 2.8 billion, though that was also about 10 years ago. Since then, he had been training vigorously, trying new methods and probably became much stronger as well. But even he didn't know to what extent.

For the rest of that day, everyone took turns between training with John and keeping Lee company. When it was 8 o'clock however, they all had to go home as John said he would drop them off. They all said good-bye to Lee and they left, Lance changing back to a ferret as they went through the door. Lee was still confined to the bed though until tomorrow morning as said his father. He went to sleep almost immediately, even though it was still early to try and get out of the bed as soon as possible.

The next morning, he found himself feeling great and he jumped out of bed to stretch the legs that had been in disuse for the last two days. He felt a sudden urge to start training and he ran down to the training room, even though it was only 8 in the morning. He did a bit of sword training and then a bit of magic training. Although, when Lee started doing magic training, he said "SET UP!" instinctively. Then he remembered that Haruno was broken and he became a little depressed. In place, he did some magic exercises that he could only do without transforming like flying and testing out **HYPER BURST**, which he hadn't used for a while. He practiced until eleven when his dad, along with the group of people Lee recognized as his friends came in. They all told him they were glad that he had made a full recovery and then they offered to spar with him one at a time. He accepted and John went and set the room for a sky battle. Doing so made the magic of the room expand to almost infinity so they could fly without worrying about hitting into the wall or nothing. Chrono went first and he found that Lee was no slouch, even when he was not transformed. Chrono had let his guard down because he thought he had a significant advantage for being transformed when he got blasted with Lee's **SHINNING BUSTER**. He got blasted back a distance and then had to deal with Lee's multi attack assault of **FLASH SHIFT** that Lee made materialize behind Chrono, hitting him forward again to meat Lee's third attack, **HYPER BURST** that also hit Chrono, sending him flying through the air and claiming a definite victory for Lee.

Lee cycled through them all for a sparing match. He won against Sarah too, but lost to both Sakura and Nanoha, who were masters of long-range combat, something Lee had trouble with without Haruno to help him aim. He also battled Lance and Chrono at the same time, and it ended in a tie when one of Lance's three attacks, **EARTHLY SHOCK CANNON** hit Lee at close range and sent them both flying in the explosion. Lance said that this was his medium attack. His **SIEGE BLAST** was his minor attack and **GETA DRAGON SHOT** was his extreme level attack. These attacks were the only ones he had in his entire arsenal of over 100 spells. All the others were listed as support, defense, transformation, healing, search or any non-combative magic.

One attack that Lee could not do without transforming was **PURE LIGHT BREAKER**. His dad said that was nothing to be ashamed of. It was very hard to do a breaker without something to focus it with. The main point of a breaker was a super intense blast of highly compressed magic, something most mages used their staffs for. It was rare that a mage could compress magic that much without a staff or device. Lee then gave up on using **PURE LIGHT BREAKER **and focused on making his **HYPER BURST**, by far his most powerful attack while not transformed, more powerful. Also, as long as they were attacks he could sustain in his current form, he could use Combination attacks, though they drained him immensely. He was really starting to miss Haruno, not that he didn't before.

The rest of the day continued like this, one training match after another. Lee knew why they were doing it, to cheer him up, but he still appreciated it. When it was 8 p.m. again, they all had to leave again except for Sarah. Lee was going to be able to go home tonight after a few days because he was all healed and such. He found that his dad had hooked a special elevator in that connected to their own house by zooming horizontally for a minute, then going up. It was weird stepping out of the elevator into his houses own dusty basement. The door to the elevator was inside a piece of wall that slid to conceal itself. "General rank perks," said his dad; walking up to the kitchen like this was a normal daily occurrence. Lee went into the dining room for a late dinner and around 10, he went to his room and lay on his bed for an hour before going to sleep

He woke up the next morning and ate breakfast like usual. It was Friday but since they still hadn't repaired the hole in the roof from the lightning bolt, a bit of John's handy work that he did out of "Parental concern" for his education. He went to the basement where ho located the right piece of wall, pressed his hand to it and went down the elevator to the underground hanger. He went onto the ship and started practicing with his dad who was already there. Sakura was taking a day off from training because her father wanted to take her on a little trip. Chrono had a doctor's appointment as well so only Nanoha, Sarah and Lance came for some practice. Lee and Nanoha did a full out battle. As it was a nice day, John put up a barrier outside, one only meant for concealment with Lance's help and they started their match. Lance had made a strong barrier because they decided to go full out. Even not transformed, Lee was strong enough to go head to head with Nanoha. He even managed to make a shield against her **STARLIGHT BREAKER **and beat her in a battle of busters. Nanoha was getting a little agitated, as Lee seemed to be getting better with his aiming as well. Then Lee decided to use all the advantages he had and gathered Ki into his right index finger, not magic. He gathered a good amount of it and fired it. It was only as powerful as a medium level attack but since it was made of Ki, when Nanoha tried to block it with her round shield, it passed straight through it and hit Nanoha straight on and the hit felt more like someone had thrown a very heavy rock and not like magic. "What the heck was that!" she said. "We got to use what we have. I'm at a disadvantage in terms of focusing power so instead; I focused on a Ki attack instead. It's different from magic or normal physical attack so a magic shield has no effect." John laughed and said, "He got you there Nanoha, this is an anything goes match. Got to use what you have."

Nanoha was a little miffed at this, especially when Lee sent two more at her. She dodged the first but was hit with the second. Lee was only doing Ki Blasts because he was trying to give Nanoha his all but she seamed to be getting mad about it all the same. "Okay, I am not going to take this. **BLASTER 1, release!**" Suddenly, Nanoha's magic skyrocketed. She started to glow with a pink aura and a HUGE magic Circle appeared under her. Even John felt the significant difference in her power level. "**EXCELLION MODE!"** Her staff changed into Excellion mode, where the head changed to a weird spear. Suddenly, three pink spell ribbon rings appeared in front of her and a sphere of pink magic appeared in the center, growing. "Crap," said Lance, "She's serious!" Even John could tell what was about to happen next. They both put a super strong, very large Round shield right above all the buildings to keep them from getting damaged. "**STARLIGHT,"** she said, and the Sphere stopped growing as she aimed it at Lee, who didn't know what to do, "_**BREAKER!!!"**_She launched her breaker, sending a HUGE attack at Lee who could do nothing but put up his strongest shield. Lance then put his **STEEL BARRIER** around Lee as well for extra protection. The Breaker hit the shield and then hit Lance and John's protection and disappeared.

John then got a reading from the ship, "Sir, we just picked up a magic level of 1.8 billion, what the hell are you doing up there?" "Sorry, it was just practice, nothing to worry about." He closed the line and told them to stop fighting. Nanoha was panting and barley floating and Lee was severely shaken but otherwise all right. "Sorry Lee," said Nanoha, "Got a bit carried away there. It was frustrating you know. You just kept pushing my buttons." "It's okay, no harm done but how do you keep doing those?" They all flew down to the ground where John was waiting. "Good battle. There was defiantly some overkill there but good battle." He then turned to Nanoha, "By the way, I remember you using that Blaster thing before. What exactly is it?"

"It's my secret weapon. Each one increases my power beyond what it is normally capable of." "So how many are there. Is this the top one or something?" asked Lee. Nanoha answered, "There are three in all, this one being the weakest. The first one doubles my strength and I can use it without any injury to myself, though it drains my magic pretty quickly. The second one increases my power 4 times above the first level and I get some bonuses with it as well but I will sustain physical damage from using it due to the power being many times what I usually do. The third and final one does a 10x increase and also has some added benefits but this one makes my magic stronger than I am usually capable of doing so using it damages my linker core along with my body, but I get almost unbeatable strength while it's active. Though I will always recover within a week though." John said, "Cool technique, and though it seams after Blaster 1 it becomes a double-edged sword."

They went back into the ship, exhausted and rested for a bit. Chrono came around three but found them all still too tired to spar so he just talked with them. It was like this for the rest of the day. Lee went home around 7, ate dinner, watched TV and went to sleep. He was still thinking about how he was going to get along without Haruno. He went to sleep, feeling empty without the little blue marble on his bedside table.

Lee woke up, it was Saturday and he felt good, but empty. He did the usual routine, ate breakfast, went to the hanger and trained. He trained until lunchtime and then the alarm went off. They all ran to the command room, the new room for gathering information inside the hangers facilities, and found John and Andy there waiting for them. "Good, you're here. This one's big, real big. Take a look for yourselves." He nodded to a clerk in front of a giant computer at the other end of the room and he brought up a live feed. It showed, according to a title in the lower left, the city of London, Europe and there, it was around sundown. It was in chaos. There was already a barrier there from the barrier squad and they weren't holding up so well. "We don't know the cause of it yet but we know it's there. We need to subdue it and seal it before it can really do some damage. For this mission, we are sending Nanoha, Sarah and Chrono because they were all left behind last time and they are a varied team. We don't know what type of monster it is so we need an expert at each field. You will be teleported immediately."

The three who were storied went to the teleport bay and got teleported inside the barrier. "Okay, I say we split up," said Chrono. "Okay," said Nanoha, "But how about you two go in opposite directions and I use **AREA SEARCH** from here. I happen to be okay at it, though not nearly as good as Andy." They agreed, Sarah went one way and Chrono the opposite way. Then Nanoha activated her search magic, **"AREA SEARCH"** She closed her eyes and started searching everywhere, starting below her and expanding out. About one minute after she started searching, she picked up on an unusual magic signature and honed in on it. What she saw surprised her; it was a girl, about her age, probably a year younger. Then the real shock came when she shot a giant blast of black magic at the barrier.

"_GUYS!"_ said Nanoha telepathically so they could both hear. "_It's a little girl, around Sarah's age. It is 5 blocks southwest from where I am now. Come quick, it looks powerful."_ Just then, she heard a loud roar and a dragon, much bigger than the one Sora fought grew out of the spot where the girl had been and on it' head, the little girl sat as if riding it. Chrono appeared below it along with Sarah. The dragon shot a rapid fire of small blasts of magic at them. They avoided most of them. "**PIERCING LIGHTS"** A whole bunch of pure sparkling white shards of magic appeared next to Sarah, who shot them all into the Dragon. They all made contact and sort of stuck to it. "**Second Stage, BLIND DESTRUCTION!"** All of the shards exploded at once, blowing the dragon and the girl to kingdom come. Then it reformed. Then a barrage of pink blasts of magic came from behind her, hitting the dragon and the girl riding it. Sarah turned around and saw Nanoha charge up. "**DIVINE BUSTER,"** she shot her buster at the girl. To her surprise, the dragon moved its tail in the way to block the attack. Then Chrono came from above. "**GRAVITON STRIKE,"** he zoomed down from above and delivered an earth-shattering blow to the dragon's head, but it regenerated just the same.

"Damn, this one is strong," said Sarah. Then, a giant black magical circle appeared in front of the dragon. It charged up a giant attack in an instant and shot it. It was easily rated SSS as it hit the ground where they were moments before, creating a huge explosion that surrounded the area in smoke. When it cleared, there was a huge crater where they had been moments before. "Nanoha, want to do a double?" "Good Idea." Sarah turned to Chrono, Chrono, move out of the way," He instantly teleported behind them as they prepared to attack. "Okay, combination, Sarah/Nanoha style!" They each made a giant magical circle of their respective colors beneath them. Then three spell ribbon rings of the same colors appeared in front of them, inside a sphere of magical energy that kept getting bigger. When they were done charging, the spheres were enormous. "Ready?"" said Nanoha. Sarah nodded. "Okay then. Nanoha: "**STARLIGHT."** Sarah: "**DESTINY."** Both:** "**_**BREAKER!!!"**_ They both shot their Breakers at the same time. They were big and powerful. "Lets do it!" said Sarah. Suddenly the two waves of insanely powerful magic started to spiral around each other, making a giant pink and white corkscrew that flew at the dragon. "It isn't as good as Lee but it still DAMN!"

Back at the base, Lee had felt a significant power and made a screen appear in front of him showing the live battle feed. To his amazement, Sarah and Nanoha were both charging breaker attacks. They fired it in unison and shot it directly at the giant dragon. Then suddenly, to Lee's horror, a little girl on the top of the dragon laughed and raised her hand, erecting a barrier. The two breaker attacks started spiraling into each other creating a sort of super magical drill that collided with the barrier. The barrier was tough. The two attacks bombarded it for almost a minute, and then disappeared. Then Lee saw them all attack the dragon at once in a flurry of attacks. Unfortunately, to his horror, all attempts to attack the dragon were stopped immediately by the barrier. It seemed impossible to break and what was worse, it was one way so the dragon could launch all the attacks it wanted at them. One by one, he saw them each get shot down and get back up again, repeatedly, over and over again. Lee didn't know what to do.

Lee wanted to go, to help them but in his current state, he would be less than useless. He would need nothing short of his Breaker to crush that barrier and he couldn't do that without Haruno. He needed some way to help, someway to fight. He couldn't' take it just standing their, safe without doing anything while his friends were being as good as massacred. He took out the two halves of the blue marble, which he had kept in his pocket for sentimental reasons. "Why did you have to go and break. I need you." The two blue marble fragments glimmered in the light for a second, making Lee look at them. "You were my friend, remember, we said we would help each other out, that we would be together. Come on, I need you."

"y-~-S M~ST~r" Lee thought he heard the marble speak for a second and he looked at it closely. "Haruno." He said, intuitively looking at the marble. "M-od-e X, Ac-ti-a-e" Lee jumped back when he saw the marble start to shine and he accidentally dropped it on the floor. Then the marbles light grew. It took the shape of a body and stopped glowing. A girl had appeared before him, wearing a blue shirt and white mini skirt with light blue hair and dark blue eyes. She had a golden ribbon in her hair as well. She was about his age and she was in terrible shape, she had gashes all over her body, deep cut wounds and bruises. But Lee could hear a very slight breathing. He didn't know what else to do so he started chanting. "_Bestow upon me the power to mend. An energy that can heal all wounds. __**HEALING GLOW**_." He then thought of Sarah. And his right hand then started to glow white. "**HEAILING GLOW AND MAIDENS HEALING, DOUBLE RECOVERY SPELL, ****GODS BLESSINGS!"** Suddenly, his hands stopped glowing as a gold and white magical circle appeared under the girl. Then it started to surround her in a warm white light with a gold layer of magic surrounding her body. Suddenly, all her wounds started to heal. The slashes and gashes and all of it disappeared in a matter of seconds. A minute later, she was completely healed, as healthy as a person could look. Even her clothes that were torn mended.

After it was done, the circle faded. Then the girl woke up and sat up and turned her head towards Lee. "You okay?" said Lee. She nodded. "So what's your name?" Lee asked her. "Haruno," she replied in a sweet, soft voice. "HUH?" said Lee. She then said, "I am your device, but now I am in human form. This is the secret power of your device, Mode X. It allows me to become a human and help you in all sorts of ways." She smiled, "Sorry about the other day, I needed to save you, I couldn't think of what else to do." Lee looked shocked. This was the last thing he expected. His device had just turned into a girl. "So I guess healing you fixed you then." "Correct. As a device, I was unable to be fixed due to extreme damage but as a human, you could heal me normally, even if I was more severely injured than that. Pretty convenient if I say so." "Yeah, pretty convenient, but that's not the point. What about my staff?" She smiled and then she turned into his blue marble. "Like this," it said, but her voice had changed back to the more electronic sounding one. "Mode X?" he said uncertainly and the marble changed back into a girl. "I can change in between the two." Lee then asked, "So what are you, a human, a device, what?" "I am your device, but I can be human also. I am sort of like a familiar, except that I am a staff and I don't rely on my masters magic to live so actually there is a significant difference." Then she looked at the screen with the battle going on in the picture. "But now's not the time to be discussing that. You need to help your friends." Lee agreed.

Suddenly, she jumped towards him, turning back into a marble in mid-air and landing around his neck. Lee had been waiting to say this for a long time, "HARUNO, SET UP!" He transformed into his barrier jacket and his beloved staff appeared next to him. Then what seamed to be a projection of the girl Haruno appeared in front of him and said, "I can also communicate like this? Ready to go?" "Lee's answer was without words. He focused hard on the place he saw in the video. He vanished on spot and reappeared in the sky, about a kilometer away from the battle.

Back at the battle scene, Chrono had his staff in its MWD mode with it as a very big sword, slashing away at the barrier with no luck. Sarah was bombarding it with her **BLAZING DESTINY **attack, one after another to no avail. Nanoha was using her **STARLIGHT BREAKER **with the same results. Suddenly, they were all knocked down by a wide area attack the girl shot from the top of the dragon. Then the dragon charged up a final attack, bigger than anything it had done so far. When it fired it, they all thought they were dead, and then an equally powerful ray of golden magical energy collided with it in mid-air. They all turned, stunned to find Lee with a perfectly repaired Haruno in the head of his staff. "Lee!" said Chrono. Lee didn't waste any time. He charged up another round and so did the dragon. They both collided again, resulting in an explosion.

"Okay then," said Lee. "Try this on for size, **PURE LIGHT BREAKER: Second Variation."** He pointed his staff at the dragon from above and three huge spell ribbon rings appeared in front of his staff. Then a huge sphere of magic appeared in the middle. It grew until it was almost 10 times as big as Lee. It looked like a small comet or something. The dragon was charging up an attack of its own, the most powerful by far. "**PURE, LIGHT, **_**BREAKER!!!"**_ The Dragon shot it's blast of magic when Lee shot his giant over kill breaker. They collided for a second, and then Lee's tore right through it. Then came the barrier. It collided with the barrier and tried to purge it to no avail but Lee didn't give up. "Haruno," he said as the little hologram of human Haruno appeared. "I understand," she said. Suddenly, Lee's breaker increased dramatically in size and power. It broke through the barrier and hit the dragon, swallowing the dragon, girl and anything that happened to be near by. Nanoha, Sarah and Chrono made a collaborative shield to protect them from Lee's attack. It hit the ground and made a HUGE explosion, creating an even bigger cloud of smoke and an even bigger crater in the middle of the city. Suddenly, the steam vent in the back of the staff exerted a lot of steam. Then Lee turned his staff into sealing mode. "Saren stone Number 13," said Haruno in the more electronic voice. "SEAL!" said Lee, shooting a ray of gold light at the stone. It hit and the stone glided over to the staff, where it was absorbed into Haruno.

Lee flew to the ground to find his friends. He thought he might have accidentally buried them in the rubble made from his attack, but then in the distance, he saw a blast of blue light fly up. He ran towards it to find Chrono, Sarah and Nanoha all there. "What took you so long?" said Chrono happily. "Your staff, how?" said Nanoha. "Who cares how it was fixed," said Sarah, "I just want to know how you broke through the barrier." Lee answered, "I broke through it with my Breaker, how else. I mean they don't but the work _break___in _BREAKer _for nothing you know." "Yeah but I tried my breaker and it didn't work at all. We even did two at once," said Sarah. "Well, then it just means that my Breaker is better than your breaker, and that the second Variation of my breaker has a TOTAL SEAL BREAK ability. I think Nanoha's Breaker after Blaster 1 gets it too." Nanoha said, "That's right, but I couldn't fire something like that with people around, too big to avoid."

"Well, enough about that, lets get home." Lee and the rest teleported back into the teleport room on the ARTIMIS. When they arrived, John was already running towards them. "Lee!" he said exasperatedly, "How did you do it. Your device was as good as gone last time I looked at it." "I'll explain it when we can sit down." They went to John's room and sat down on the couches. "Lee," said Lance, "I was surprised when I was watching the monitor and I saw you come on screen all of a sudden. So was your dad and Sakura; we all thought you were still in the training room below us." "Well, I didn't have time to waste so I just went."

After the surprise part was done, John said, "Okay, now for the part I want to hear. How did you fix your device? It was split in two for crying out loud, I thought it was a goner for sure." "I would like to know that too," said Lance and everyone nodded in agreement. "Well, I'm not the one you should ask, Haruno probably has a better idea of it than me." John laughed, thinking it was a joke. Lee smiled and placed the blue marble on the empty seat next to him. Then the next thing anyone knew, a girl was sitting next to Lee. "Whoa!" said John, almost falling out of his chair." "I did not see that coming." He went closer to Haruno to examine her. "Well she is defiantly human. But that doesn't explain why she was your device a second ago." Then Haruno was about to speak and everyone listened in, eager to hear her. "I am his device, Haruno. Though I am human, I am also a device. This is just a secret of Lee's device. Mode X allows me to turn into a human to help him in all sorts of ways. Plus it's more convenient if I need to talk to people like right now."

She explained how as a device, she was irreparable but as a human, she could be healed with an advanced combination healing magic that Lee used on her. Once back to full in the human form, the device form was repaired as well. "And that was how I was fixed up and Lee left for battle." John nodded, "I see. Now here's a question. You're a programmed device but you're also a human, so are you programmed or do you have your own thoughts?" She thought for a second, "I dunno, I just go with what I think is the right thing. All I can say is that I never am forced to do something; I do it because I want to, like jumping out in front of Lee." John nodded again, "Okay, that answers that. I can say without a doubt that you are defiantly not programmed. You follow your own will and can make decisions on your own." He turned at Lee, "Lee, you without a doubt have the coolest device I have ever seen." He took out Raging fury, "Can you turn into a human?" he asked it. "Command does not compute." "Ah well, it would have been nice." Then he asked Haruno, "So are you a genuine human or some type of familiar guardian." Lee and some of the others looked confused at that. "Oh sorry, a familiar guardian is a being made by a mage and in exchange for living off their magic, they devote their lives to their creator. Familiar guardians are also living things with free will's though. He looked at Haruno again, she said, "No, just a normal Human, except I can change into a device or I guess it's the other way around, I'm a device that turns into a human."

John and the rest of them then started asking some questions to Haruno until Sakura had to come and tell them to shut up. "I know were all curious but can you please act civilized. You're scaring her to death. Now ask one at a time." She smiled at Haruno, "It's okay, there sorry." She smiled and then backed away to let them ask questions. Lance was first. "So do you have any powers of your own when you're Human?" Haruno answered, "Yes, though not much. I can do basic support magic, small attacks, small barriers and shields. I can also do healing, teleportation and transformation and I do have a small magic supply of my own, though I can use Lee's magic if he says I can." Next was a question from Sarah, "So is there any restrictions on you for like how long you can be Human or device or whatever?" Haruno answered again, "Not really, though I will turn back into a device if Lee uses an excessive amount of magic. I may not live of his magic but it keeps my form together. Besides that, no; he could be sleeping and I could still be human." Then a question from Chrono, "So can you go between device and human whenever, or does Lee have to say something for you too or whatever?" "No, I can change at will, but I will be whichever one Lee asks me too. I am his device, and I want to myself as well." Then came a question from Sakura, "So about that, are you chained to Lee or anything or could you say, walk up and leave if you wanted to." "I could, but who would want to leave this guy. I love him, he is my friend." She then started clinging to him. "Haruno, you're choking me." "Oh, sorry." Everyone laughed, even Sakura as Lee caught his breath. "Okay, last question," said Nanoha, "What happens if he needs his staff or something when you're like this?" Haruno answered, "Well, for a half release for just the sword," she held her hand out and Lee's sword appeared in her hand and she handed it to him, "It can be summoned while I am like this, though my magic will not work when I am like this. I can still use Lee's magic though. As for a full release, I do need to change back into device before he can transform. But I can leave a tangible hologram of myself behind, though it won't have any magical power but it is still me. I just won't be in the staff."

After they were done answering her questions. "Okay, time for me to go to sleep." She turned into the marble and it floated to Lee's hand. "So I guess she turns back when she goes under." "Correct," said the marble. When human Haruno falls asleep, she turns into the device form automatically to conserve strength." Then a hologram of a miniature Haruno appeared, "I can also appear like this when I am a device." Then it disappeared. "I guess we should let her sleep," said Lee, placing it around his neck. Lance then went to the training room.

According to Haruno, the human didn't have to be conscious for Lee to use the staff. The staff's functions were automatic from some programming not having to do with human Haruno. Though an auto guard type spell wouldn't work, it still was as good as the staff normally. He trained more with Chrono. Chrono was at first a little hesitant to hit Haruno but then Lee said that Haruno said that she could take damage to the staff without taking damage to the human form. She was only injured if something happened to break the device and that was hard to do. So after that, everyone treated battling Lee's staff like any other and went full out. She made it easier on them at first by making a projection of herself appear so it looked like she wasn't in the staff. After Lee was done, he went back up to the house for dinner. When he got there, he saw his mother still cooking dinner. "It'll be ready in 20 minutes, please wait." He went to sit down on the couch when the marble then turned into Human Haruno who then went to Mary and said, "Can I help?" Mary was shocked, and then Lee said, "It's a complicated story. I'll explain later but she's harmless." Mary graciously accepted her help and with Haruno, Dinner was finished in 15 minutes instead of 20.

"Dinner!" yelled Mary and everyone came running. There was a full spread of chicken, rice, salad, mashed potatoes and other good stuff. Haruno was about to turn back into a marble when Mary said, "What are you doing?" "I'm turning back so you can eat. My job is done." Lee than said, "Why don't you join us, we have plenty. I even set a spot for you." She sat down questioningly and started eating. "What's wrong," said John, looking worried, "Your not used to being human but humans have to eat, and therefore, as long as you are under my roof, you can eat as much as you want. Besides, it is DELICIOUS." She looked a little better and started eating. For someone who wasn't hungry, she ate four portions of chicken, one more than John and two more than everyone else. "Sorry, it was the best thing I ever tasted. I just kept going." "That's quite alright dear," said Mary, "I'm just glad that you liked my cooking so much. Think of it as a complement." Haruno cheered up at this. Later, Haruno was in Lee's bedroom. Lee and the rest said she should sleep in the guest room but she said she needed to sleep next to Lee. She was a marble when she slept anyway so she wouldn't take up room. Mary was about to object to a girl sleeping in Lee's room at their age when Haruno pointed out, "Before I am a girl, I am his device and have been in there for the past few months. It won't be any different."

She won her case and she was in Lee's room. "I have a question for ya," said Lee. "Okay," said Haruno, turning to listen to what Lee had to say. "Where did the clothes come from? Did you make them?" "No, you did. They were created in the same way that you formed your barrier jacket. It was a subconscious action. But if you want, I can change them." "No!" said Lee. "It's alright, but we should go buy you more than one outfit. We were already going to the mall tomorrow, why don't we pick you out a few things." "Okay Lee, what ever you want," she said cheerfully. They talked for a bit, then she brought up the first time she met Lee as his device. "I always existed, I was just deep in the recesses of your subconscious until your powers awakened. Then I popped out with them. I still remember what you said that day. You didn't know it but it made me really happy when you said it. It's just that I can't express emotions as a device, though my hologram can." "What did I say?" "You said that I wasn't to think of you as your master but as a friend. That made me happy. Other devices are programs so their user treats them as such but even without knowing about me being part human, you treated me like one. That made me so happy." She went over and hugged him. "I always want to be with you." She then turned into a marble and Lee caught it. He thought she must have been tired after her first full day of being human. Lee put the blue marble on a pillow he had placed on the nightstand and then went to sleep.


	31. Haruno Goes Shopping

The Haruno Chronicles

Ch.31 Nice fun, short chapter; just made it to get people accustomed to Haruno being a person/device. Also good for how it effects Lee life.

Disclaimer: Everything, material, characters, locations ect… are property of the respective people.

Chapter 31 – Haruno goes shopping

Lee woke up the next morning to find that Haruno was hovering over him. "AH!' said Lee, surprised. "Sorry!" said Haruno, "I didn't mean to scare you. It's just that your mother said to wake you up or your going to be late." Lee looked at the time it was 9:30. "Crud, your right." Lee got up and got dressed while Haruno was downstairs making him a quick breakfast as his mom had already left the house. When he got downstairs, he saw a full plate of eggs, waffle, toast, apple and Orange juice. "You make all this?" asked Lee, surprise, amazed and thankful all at the same time. "Your mom left instructions on how to make it all. I just did the prep work." "Still, this is impressive." He sat down to eat it. He found it to be just like his mom's. "Haruno," he said, looking at her. "Yeah," she replied. "Just out of curiosity, why did you never tell me you could become human before?" She smiled, "Because there wasn't ever a need to. You were happy with the way I was so I stuck to it. But when I was injured, you weren't happy with the way I was so I showed you this form. Then you were able to fix me right up."

She then went to the door where Sarah had left a note saying that she was going ahead. Lee followed her with toast in hand and ran out the door. "Haruno, can you change into a marble, I can get us there faster." She changed and wrapped herself around Lee's neck. He then teleported to a storage room in a warehouse 2 blocks away from the mall, cutting the distance by a significant portion. He then ran using SHUNPO to get them to the mall very quickly. He just made it in when the clock turned ten. He went to the fountain in the middle of the mall where he said he would meet up with everyone. He went there and found everyone except Sakura to be waiting. She was in a store to their right looking at earrings. "Sorry," said Lee, "Woke up late." "Don't worry, we were expecting it by now." Then Lee said, "Okay, today, my mother said we needed to get Haruno some clothes. She gave me a fair amount of money so I was hoping you could all help me. Sakura ran over, fashion was her specially. "Leave it to me." She took the marble off Lee's neck and went into the girl's bathroom. Then she came out a moment later with a humanized Haruno.

"Okay, to store number one." Sakura was dragging Haruno by the wrists to one of her favorite clothing stores. Sakura was usually very calm and relaxed, even if she had a short temper but when you placed her in her element, she was an untamed shopping animal. She first stopped by looking at Haruno in front of a mirror, then she went and picked out a "few" things. "Okay, time for the show." Sakura dragged them all into the back where the store did it's news reporting on it's own mini runway with a changing room in the back. Sakura's family was partners with the business so they had full use.

She told them to sit in the chairs while they went in back and tried Haruno in different clothes. The first outfit that Haruno was sent out in was a purple full-length dress. They all gave their opinions and scoring before she went back to have Sakura pick out a second outfit. The next one was a basic jeans and tee shirt look, but it was good so it was a full thumbs up from everyone. Then she came out in a basic schoolgirl uniform, short skirt, stockings, black shoes and sailor style short with a hair ribbon in the shape of a bow for her long light blue hair. There was a perfect score for this one. Next were a more casual knee-high skirt and light blue long sleeve blouse top. After trying on what felt like a hundred outfits, they decided on the top 10 or so and bought them. There was a lot more money in the envelope Lee had gotten than he realized. Though the fact that they got a huge discount from Sakura didn't hurt.

Next was the shoe store, also associated with Sakura's family. Here was where she totally let loose. She pointed at every other pair of shoes in the store for them to try one. And the boys had to pick them up after she pointed at them. They had literally over a hundred pairs when they were done. Lee ended making his keep from falling with magic. They placed them all in a stack next to Sakura and Haruno, who also seemed to be enjoying herself. She tried on every pair. After almost an hour of trying on more than 100 pairs of shoes, they had narrowed it down. Now she had 3 pair of normal everyday shoes, 2 sets tennis sneakers, a set of high heals, a Mary-Jane signature, a pair of flip-flops, and a set or rain boots. Lee was surprised that there was still enough money left to do the other shopping when he finished buying them all.

Along with Chrono and Lance, Lee was stuck carrying the bags from all the stores and since they were buying an entire wardrobe, there was still some shopping that they needed to do. They went into an accessories shop and Sakura and Haruno had fun choosing different pieces of Jewelry to try on. Due to how much they spent there, they got a free jewelry box as a promotional item. Haruno now had a full range of accessories.

Nanoha joined them on their next venture as they went into an outdoors store to buy stuff for the fast approaching cold season. Nanoha had only been on earth since around the end of April so she didn't have any jackets or anything meant for more than a chilly morning. They had fun trying on all the different styles, finally picking one and buying it. Haruno got a dark sapphire blue with removable liner so it could be used for fall and winter and Nanoha got the same one in light orange. They also got a thicker set of boots and some gloves, a hat and a nice scarf that Haruno was staring at. It was hard for Lee to believe that the energetic girl in front of her was the embodiment of his device, which he had been using for fighting.

They went and got Lunch at the food court. Between the three of them, Lee Chrono and Lance were carrying almost 40 bags. Even Nanoha had to start carrying the bag with her new earrings in it. Haruno offered to carry some but Lee refused. They got a large pizza and split it between themselves. As there were seven of them and 8 slices, this meant that there was one left over. At first, Lee and Chrono, as usual, were fighting over it but in the mist of their verbal bout, Haruno came out of nowhere and ate the whole thing. This put an end to Lee and Chrono's fight, but they were still hungry. Then for fun, they went to a movie.

When they got to the theater, there were two movies that they wanted to see. The first one was an American adventure film and the other was a traditional Japanese drama of a well-known legend. Unfortunately, Sakura had burnt out her credit card, Lee was out of cash and the only one who had money on them was Chrono. The problem was, he only had enough for one movie. There was a super saver deal for buying 6 tickets to the same movie, get two free. Chrono, after deducting snack costs and drinks and other things they may need, there was just enough for six tickets. With the super saver deal, that meant that they could only go to one of the movies. They did what they usually did and took a count. The boys never liked this because in a group of 4 girls to three boys they could never win and now there were five girls. They took the vote but it surprised them. It was four even. Haruno, not wanting to leave Lee had voted for his movie.

"Haruno, you're a girl. You should like this type of movie," said Sakura. "I really want to see that movie," sad Sarah. "Please!" said Nanoha. But this only resulted in Haruno hugging Lee around the neck and turning to say, "I want to go with Lee." Lee then said, "Don't chose our movie just because of that. Chose the one you want to see. Hay, how about this," said Lee, "This is Haruno's first time to the movies, at least as a person. How about we let her decide. We will hold a little contest. Each side will present their reasons for wanting to go to their movie and then whatever one Haruno decides will be the one we watch. AND the losing side will go quietly and enjoy it. Is this alright, I mean, you girls being four already have the advantage." They agreed. Chrono protested saying that it was his money and he should chose but then Lee said telepathically, "_This is just a ploy. I know Haruno will choose our side. She hasn't once gone on anyone else's side. She clings to me like glue. I guarantee she will choose ours. This is just so the girls can't complain during the movie or anything." _Chrono understood what Lee was saying and replied, "_Lee, you are a mad Genius."_

They started alternating between the two sides. First was Sarah's argument. "Haruno, do not let my deluded older brother's tastes get you. Those movies have no art in them unlike this one, full of beauty and brilliance." Then went Lance, "As a friend, I just warn you that those drama's are little more than torture. I almost ripped my own eyes out the last time I saw one." This gave Haruno a frightful expression until Lance explained it was only an expression. Next went Nanoha, "I don't like violent movies. They are kind of scary and I can't get to sleep at night after seeing one. That is why I prefer drama's." Then Chrono's case, "I guarantee you, if you go to see their drama, your first experience in a movie theater will be how good of an nap you can get in their chairs." Then it was Sakura's turn, "The pure delicacy and artfulness of this film makes it worth seeing. Besides, theirs is a low budget cheap effects film. No artistry what so ever." Then it was Lee's argument and his was the last. "I won't talk about the movies. I just want you to choose which one you want, knowing that I won't be angry with your decision." They backed off to give Haruno a minute to think.

10 minutes later, they were in the theater. All the girls were happily enjoying themselves why the boys were in the row behind them. "I thought you said it was fool proof." "I did too. I laid all the sauce in too. I thought she was going to choose us too." They became quiet after the lights dimmed. The Movie then started. It started dreadfully boring, but then in the middle, it ended up being a high action samurai battle. The girls hadn't expected this, especially because this movie showed all the gore and blood. They thought this was some type of romance movie. Then Chrono turned to Lee and said, "This isn't so bad you know. Maybe we should listen to the girls more often." He said it loud enough for the girls to hear. "Shove a sock in it," said Sakura.

When they exited the movie, there was a large poster advertizing it. Upon closer inspection, Sakura found it say, "Based on the great battle of Kikuyu Pass." "Of course, how would anyone see that?" Sakura was more than a bit irritated. Haruno on the other hand seemed perfectly content. Lee had a feeling that Haruno would be happy no matter what they did. She was like a small child in that respect. It was around 3 in the afternoon and they still had to burn some time. Unfortunately, they were out of funding. Luckily, Sakura was a step ahead and had her emergency credit card. Lee advised against using it until she said, "Well I count this as an emergency. We will die of boredom at this rate. Besides, there is 50,000 yen on this card and I can just refill it at the end of the month anyway."

They decided to go the full course and as they had the time, they went up a floor above the mall level to the Karaoke booths. Sakura bought a 1 and a half hour time slot. She also ordered drinks and the works. They entered their booth and picked up the book of songs. Lee hadn't been in a Karaoke booth in a long time. Sarah had goon once over the summer and Sakura came frequently with some of her other friends and had gotten in a habit of coming with Nanoha and consequently Lance. Sakura went up first and chose one of her favorites. Sakura was actually a very good singer with a nice voice. The machines score was a 93, a particularly high score, even for Sakura. Next due to losing rock paper scissors, Chrono went up. Part of losing was that Lee got to choose his song. Chrono was actually better than he gave himself credit for, scoring an 88. He sat down and next was a duet between Nanoha and Lance, having been pushed into it by Sakura. They were really good and got the highest score by far, receiving a 95. They were happy as they sat back down and sipped their drinks. Next was Sarah who jumped up. She really enjoyed Karaoke, but the only problem was that she sucked. And badly at that. The machine gave her a 43 for a score, though no one heard the performance because they were covering their ears and Lance had put up a sound barrier to spare them from the suffering. "What good is being a mage if you don't use your magic in these dire situations. Next Lee went up. He was so-so, after all, nobody's perfect but he was on one of those good days and received a score of 89.

Then it was Haruno's turn. She didn't know what song to choose so Sakura choose one for her. Tone-def Sarah almost did but Lee had to stop her. She went up on stage and started singing. It was like heaven, her voice was beautiful. It was both calming and warm and it made you feel happy. They all listened happily as she finished her song. She received the highest score any of them had ever seen at a perfect 100. There was applause for an encore so they chose a different song. They spent a good amount of time having Haruno sing out different songs on request. She got a perfect score every time. She had the type of mesmerizing voice that made you crave more of it. Before they knew it, their hour and a half was up and the Karaoke machine turned itself off, programmed to do so when the allotted time was up.

They left and took the elevator down to the first floor and headed for the exit. At the entrance, there were a group of boys, probably two or three years older than Lee. They all had the same symbol on their black jackets. It was the Japanese character for "Crush." Lee could sense trouble from a mile away and said, "Could you guys hold back a bit. Let me take care of the trash before we leave." He walked forward and headed for the exit. A particularly big member of the gang stopped him, then a shorter member said to Lee, "This here's a toll road. 2000 yen a person. Pay up." He extended his hand out to collect. "Last I checked, this was a Free Exit (Yes, it is a pun) so I would appreciate if you would ask your friend to move out of the way." They looked at Lee for a second, and then started laughing. "We got a mister tough guy here. What should we do with him boss?" A person, a bit taller than Lee and pretty muscular looking came to the front. "I think we should teach him to respect his elders."

Suddenly, Haruno ran forward from the group and to Lee. "How long do you want us to wait? Sakura said she is going to be late for dinner if you don't hurry." They looked at Haruno for a second and then the boss said, "I like this one. You girl," he said to Haruno, "Leave this loser and I will show you a real good time." Haruno hugged Lee at the neck and said, "No thanks. Lee is much more fun." He looked at Lee. "Okay, lets do this the hard way. I could use a bit of light exercise." The entire gang took out chains and poles. "Please put those away, someone may end up hurt." They were now pissed and charged Lee. The boss stopped a second later as Lee's katana, which he just drew, was at his neck. "Now what were you doing?" Lee said, still holding his Katana up to the guy's neck. Suddenly, the other members all collapsed at once, each with a slash mark. "Don't worry, your friends will be fine, I made sure that the cuts were shallow." Suddenly, the guy ran to the door and said, "Sorry, let me get that for you." He opened the door for them as thy all walked out.

They started to walk home when Sakura said, "Sorry, I got to split off here. I have got piano lessons in 5 minutes." She disappeared on spot with her shopping. Lee decided that they might as well just teleport home, especially with the extra luggage they had for Haruno. They agreed and they all teleported to their own houses, except that Chrono and Lance made a pit stop at Lee's house to drop off Haruno's shopping. Then they said bye and went to their respective houses, Lance turning back into a ferret as he disappeared.

Lee and Sarah, along with Haruno levitated all the shopping bags, being too tired to carry them, to Lee's room. Why they were out shopping, John was making a magical adjustment to Lee's closet. Now when the left door was opened, there was an entirely different, very large closet for Haruno while opening the right one led to Lee's own closet. This way, they could each have a closet to themselves. Lee helped Haruno unpack her clothes from the bags into the closet. It took them almost a half an hour to get everything organized. By the time they were done, Mary was already calling them for dinner. "Sorry Lee," said Haruno. "What are you apologizing for Haruno?" said Lee. "I made you spend your day getting stuff for me. I feel like I was abusing your hospitality." Lee looked a bit surprised at this but said, "What are you talking about. You've helped me loads of times." She looked at him, "When?" "Well, you said that you are technically my device, right?" She nodded. "Then you have helped me every time I went to fight. Remember, you helped me capture a good dozen or so of those stones. Not to mention jumping in front of Fate's attack to save me. I don't think I could ever repay you in a lifetime for your help, but this is an attempt." She smiled at this, "Okay, but I do those things because I WANT to. I like being with you and fighting with you. Even though I am only a program on the outside in my normal form, but it is still me in there on the inside, and I like battling with you. So I want you to promise me that you will never hesitate to use me as your staff. I will take it as a great insult if you do." Lee looked at her for a second, "Okay, but no matter what, I will still regard you as a human." She hugged him, "Okay, but no matter what, I am first and foremost your device." She then turned into her real form and hung her self around Lee's neck. Then a hologram miniature of her appeared in front of him, "Now hurry, your mom's dinner is waiting."

He went down to the table, where everything was set up. "Where's Haruno?" said Mary, putting the salad on the table. "She said she needed some time to be herself," Lee said, pointing at the blue marble. "She seemed a bit tired when we got home so she turned back to her real form to get some sleep." Mary then said, "Well that's too bad, I made enough dinner for her as well. Tell her that it will be in the fridge if she wants it." Suddenly, the mini projection of Haruno appeared on his shoulder, "Okay!" she said to Mary.

Later, Lee was in his room with Haruno. Well, to be exact, she was still "sleeping" which for her just meant turning into a marble but she could project a regular size tangible hologram of herself, except like a hologram, it was transparent. Not to mention she couldn't use magic like this. "So Lee," she said, "In two days, you'll be going back to school right?" Lee nodded, "So can I continue to go to school with you as your device?" Lee answered, "Why not, you have been doing so since I met you, originally that is." She smiled as Lee thought to himself why girls always asked such weird questions. Just another thing he couldn't understand about girls.


	32. The Switch: Haruno? Lee?

The Haruno Chronicles

Ch.32 Another fun chapter, Thought it would be humorous. I do admit for taking the café scene from Ranma ½, which sort of inspired the creation of this chapter.

Disclaimer: Everything, material, characters, locations ect… are property of the respective people. Special one for Ranma 1/2

Chapter 32 – The switch, Haruno? Lee?

Today was Sunday and Lee and company was planning on spending the whole day training. They went to the training room on the ARTIMIS to do it. They trained for a while. Lee was helping Chrono out with his Kendo club training while the others did a battle royal in the one next to them. "Your getting better Chrono. For a beginner, you are advancing pretty well. Only about a week and you are close to having your first technique down." "Yeah, but I will never be as good as you or Sarah or anyone in your family for that matter. I mean, you guys are insane, no offense." "None taken. My dad said himself that he is crazy, but he also said that no great person was ever NOT crazy. It kind of comes with the territory. But to be honest, if you put a good deal of effort into it, you could probably become as good as the average person in my family. Maybe you should aim to be as good as Drew, our captain. He is about as good as Sakura, if not slightly better and I could see you getting to his level by the end of the year." Chrono laughed and said, "Wishful thinking. He can move almost at the speed of light with 45 kg on and I can't even do a simple technique with 2 kg. There is an obvious difference."

John came and said, "Don't be discouraged, there is truth to what my son is saying. You have amazing potential Chrono and a good build. You just need to work at it a bit. Tell you what. It is against the rules of our family style to teach it to outsiders but what about becoming an apprentice under me of the Herameki Denkou Ken style, also known as Lightning Flash Blade style. It is a style I mastered after completing my training in the Cross style to continue my training. It is a sword style completely based off of high speed. It focuses on single strong hits combined with high speeds to take down opponents efficiently and quickly. It also has a bunch of multi shot moves as well. It was originally developed for suicide missions. Usually, a team in a desperate situation sent a single person out to confront the enemy as a distraction as the others either ran away and got reinforcements or planed an ambush. The person sent as the distractions almost always ended up dead. From all those who were sent on those suicide missions, Herameki Denkou Ken style was born. The styles combination of speed and power allowed for the user to take down many opponents quickly and efficiently without having to worry about defense. Your speed becomes your defense so you can focus on fighting."

Chrono didn't need a moment to decide. He agreed hastily and so John said, "Good, now the basics of this style are already something you know. That move you have been trying to learn is a teaching move. It was never meant for actual combat use. What it teaches you is how to control the force that speed creates. And believe it or not, you already have that nailed down." Chrono looked confused at John for a second, "What are you talking about, I never even once did it successfully." John smiled and said, "Have you tried taking off your sweatbands yet?" Chrono shook his head. "I see. Well then try with them off." Chrono took the bands off and went to the wooden post he had set up. He swung his sword as hard as he could, thinking nothing would happen but right when he stopped the sword, a thin, precise cut flew straight through the post and cut it cleanly in half. "Holy crap, how the hell did I do that?" John just smiled and said, "Go pick up your wristbands. I am sure you will understand then." Chrono went to pick up his wristbands, and to his surprise, when he tried to lift them up, they were heavy, very heavy. "What the hell? I never remember them being this heavy. Are these really what I have been wearing." John smiled again and said, "You are only limited by your own self doubt. Or to put it simply, you are limited by what you expect. When you were training, I put some of my Ki into your sweatbands without telling you. Then, I increased the weight of them gradually. I didn't tell you because if you knew, you would have given up without a doubt thinking it was beyond you. So they increased without you knowing. You probably thought you were either delirious or tired if you ever thought they were heavier for a second, no?" Chrono nodded. "Exactly, so now you know not to think of the can't parts and to think about the can parts. The proof that you can do it is in the fact that each of those currently weighs 21 kg apiece. I believe that is almost ten times what they weighed originally."

Chrono looked shocked and pleased at the same time. Chrono worked with John on the basics of the style John was teaching them. They didn't get far as they had to stop around 10 in the mourning. The alarm went off and they all headed to the command room. This time, they had located an active stone in Mainland China. The stone didn't look to tough and it was obvious to find so they decided rather than waste a lot of manpower and send a group, they would just send Lee and Lance to do a quick recovery. Lee and Lance headed to the teleport bay immediately.

Next thing they knew, they were over some huge mountain with a river valley below them. Lee spotted smoke coming from about a kilometer away and headed over to search. Lee found the stone, which had taken the form of a black sphere in the middle of a crater on the ground and seemed to be sucking up everything. It really didn't seem impressive at all so Lance put up a small barrier. Lee shot a **SHINNING BUSTER **at it to find that it just sucked it up. "Well, it ain't strong but it is defiantly annoying. Lee tried a variety of different attacks, all of which had the came result of being sucked in.

"Okay!" said Lee, "Now I go overkill!" He started to charge up his **PURE LIGHT BREAKER**." "**PURE LIGHT **_**BREAKER!!!**__"___He shot his breaker straight at the giant black sphere. It hit the entire thing and created a big explosion. The result of it being that Lee had made the crater even bigger. "Lee," said Lance, "Have you ever heard of the word RESTRAINT. I am the one who has to fix all this when were done. It is very annoying cleaning up after you." "Sorry," said Lee, "I tried, honestly but that thing was damn annoying. Suddenly, the Saren stone came out of the smoke cloud then it just floated in mid-air. "Saren stone number 12" said Haruno. "SEAL!" said Lee, shooting a golden light.

Something weird happened, for the first time, right before the beam hit it, the stone shot out some weird white light and it hit Lee. He didn't feel anything from the hit so he continued. He sealed the stone right up and it flew to Haruno in the middle of his staff and Haruno absorbed it. Suddenly, Lee fainted in midair and Lance had to teleport to catch him in time. "Better get back to the ship," Lance thought, teleporting as he finished.

Lee woke up to find that everyone was above him, or to say the least, over him. His vision was blurry at first but then it came into focus. He then tried to get up only to fin that he couldn't. He tried to move his hand but he couldn't feel it. Then he tried his leg and he failed at that too. "What the hell?" said Lee? "Am I paralyzed or something?" he tried to speak only to find that he couldn't talk as well. This horrified him when suddenly, he felt something behind him rise up, taking him with it.

Suddenly, everyone's faces brightened up and then looked at what ever was above Lee. "Oh good Lee, your awake," said John talking to the thing above Lee. "What are you talking to?" thought Lee. Then Chrono said, "What happened to you?" to the thing above Lee too. Lance was wondering what had gotten their attention. Then to his shock, his own voice answered, "Where am I." "Your in the infirmary." Lee was now officially confused, he was down there but something up their talked in his voice. "This is just a precaution, please tell us your name." The person with Lee's voice said, "Who else would I be, I'm Haruno." Everyone jumped back, "Lee, you all right?" said Sarah, surprised. "I'm not Lee, I'm Haruno." The big Lee said. Sarah took out her mirror and gave it to big Lee. He took it and looked into it at arms length. "AH!" said the big Lee, jumping back in bed, then feeling his own face. "Why am I Lee?" Lee looked into the mirror too and to his horror, if he was correct, he was looking from the point of view of the marble on big Lee's neck.

"One second, I have something that will solve everything." He made a panel appear in front of big Lee. "I want you to make a magic sphere and place it on the panel. Big Lee nodded and created not a gold, but a light blue ball of magic and made it float over to the panel and it absorbed it. Suddenly, a voice came out of the panel, "Magic signature not recognized." John then said, "So then you really are Haruno, aren't you?" said John. "That is what I have been saying." Said big Lee, now identified as Haruno. "How do you know?" said Sakura. " Because, no matter if there is a mind switch or a body swap or whatever, a mages magic never changes. Where ever Lee's consciousness is, his magic would bee there so the fact that it is not in his body means that it is else where." John then looked at the marble on Lee's/Haruno's chest. "And I bet I know where we can find Lee." The big Lee now identified as Haruno look off the marble ad said, "Mode X, activate." Suddenly, Lee felt hands and feet again and could move, but they didn't feel like his hands or feet, they felt dainty and weak. He also had some pressure on his chest and looked down to realize that he was in a white skirt with a dark blue navy girl top. "AH!" said Lee, realizing he was in Haruno's human body. "How the Hell did this happen?" said Lee, freaked out at being in Haruno's body. "That answers that," said Chrono, "I would recognize that artful way of speaking anywhere. But this is bizarre."

Lee in Haruno's body and Haruno in Lee's body, this was getting confusing. They both got up and stood face to face, admiring themselves from the others body. "Yep, this is defiantly weird as hell," said Lee looking at himself. "Okay," said John, "If I may venture an idea, I would say it had to do with that blast of light that hit you while you were sealing the stone. It was probably a defense mechanism meant to scramble the enemy up as a last resort. The switch happened with the person closest to Lee at the time and that was technically Haruno so they were swapped. Luckily, this type of magic according to my scan earlier will only last to around 11 tonight, early enough for you to change before going to bed. So, nothing to worry about."

Lee then started screaming, but only found that his voice was now very high pitch. It was Haruno's voice, "What do you mean, I'm stuck in this body. How am I supposed to go through a whole day like this? I can't even train." Then Haruno, as Lee, spoke up, "Is there something wrong with my body?" she asked questioningly with Lee's own voice. "No, there's nothing wrong with your body. It's just not something I am used to." Haruno in Lee's body then said, in Lee's voice, "Well then, I think you should be fine for a day. Besides, I think it will be fun to be you." She started to look at her masculine body. "Okay, I give up. I'll live with it." Then he looked at his dad, "But if I don't turn back at 10 on the dot, you will die." He did it with such a scary devil face that if he had is own face, most would be terrified. Unfortunately, when attempted with Haruno's face, it looked ridiculous. Everyone, including Haruno from Lee's body started laughing hysterically. "Okay, okay. I promise you will change back by that time," said John, choking on his own laughter.

Not being able to train, Lee went home with Haruno, each in each other's body. When they got home, John explained to Mary about the "unusual" situation. She too had a little giggle fit. She came in to say, "You seem to be spending a lot of your Sundays as a girl." She had a little giggle fit. Lee made a pout that Mary said was "cute" which only made Lee even angrier. Though another questioning look from Haruno was enough for him to become quiet. They went to his room and sat down on the bed.

"Okay, at least we got here without anything disastrous happening. "I don't think of this as that bad, its fun to be you. I think while I was still just a device I had a dream like this once. Where I was you and you were my device. It was kind of funny." Lee then said, "Real laugh. I can see why your happy, I mean, who wouldn't want to be me but I have to be stuck as a girl." "And what is so wrong with being a girl?" said Haruno. "It just feels so, so foreign. When I looked in the mirror, I didn't see myself. It was really freaky." Haruno pondered this for a bit, "Okay, then to make you more comfortable, lets make it so you are more comfortable with it." Lee looked a little worried about what Haruno was thinking." She wouldn't tell him but she just giggled, a very weird giggle seeing as it came from a boy.

Almost immediately, Sarah, Sakura and Nanoha appeared in his room via teleport. "You guys get the message?" asked Haruno. "Yeah, I think it will be fun," said Sarah, giggling. "I've already came up with some ideas," said Sakura, also fighting to control her giggling. Lee did NOT like where this was going. Suddenly, Haruno opened her closet with all the new shopping. "I needed to try on some of the clothes that went through the wash to make sure they still fit, but alas, I can no longer try them on as I am in your body. So instead since we need to know TODAY, you are going to try them so we can see if they still fit in all the right places.

Lee backed away quickly, "No way. I refuse to try on your clothes." Haruno giggled and said, "You really don't have much of a choice, We need to know if we need to return them today and I obviously can't try them on, I need MY body for that, but since you have my body right now, YOU will have to try them on for me." "Sorry Haruno. No offense but there is NO WAY IN HELL that I am trying on all your dresses." Suddenly, Mary walked into the room, "What is with all the yelling up here. I would think there is a party." Then she noticed all the girls around, "Oh I see, I guess there is a little party up here." Just as she was about to leave the room, Sarah said, "Stop." She stopped and said, "What is it dear?" Sarah smiled, "Haruno needs to test her clothes to make sure they didn't shrink in the wash, but she can't since Lee is in her body and we need to know now." Mary answered, "Well then have Lee in Haruno's body try them on." Lee then said, "As I told them, HELL NO." Mary then said, "It is not a question of yes or no, its just it needs to be done so you WILL help Haruno out." She left the room. Lee knew he was trapped. When his mother said to do something, it was as good as an order, and one defiantly not to be disobeyed.

Lee almost fainted from embarrassment at trying on Haruno's clothes. "And why are you three here?" asked Lee, looking at Sarah, Sakura and Nanoha who were all laughing. "Because we have nothing better to do and this is very amusing. I only wish I could take pictures, but unfortunately it would be Haruno's face and that would take away the funny." Lee mumbled under his breath as they forced him into another outfit. Then after an hour and a half, they finished trying on everything, just to find out that they all fit perfectly.

"Great," said Lee, except the sarcastic tone sounded out of place with Haruno's voice, "All that time spent at my expense and just to find out that everything was as intended. What a waste of time." Haruno almost giggled, but stopped as it was too weird with Lee's voice. "It's okay," said Haruno, "Besides, I got to see my clothes on me first hand. I must say that I do look good from an outside perspective." "Oh yes, enjoy yourself," said Lee, now getting freaked out by his own (Haruno's) voice. "Well if it's of any consolation to you, I am actually enjoying myself." Lee then went downstairs to find his mom in the kitchen. When she saw them, she walked over immediately with a piece of paper and said, "Good, you are not doing anything, I have run out of a bunch of important ingredients for dinner and I can't leave because I am watching the oven. Sarah is out and your Dad is nowhere to be found like usual. Can you two go get me the things on the list from the supermarket?" Lee then said, "No way I am going out like this." Then he was about to protest more when Haruno butted in and said, "What he means is that we will be happy to get your ingredients." "Now I definitely know you are not Lee. He is never that polite. Well thank you anyway. There should be extra money in there after the shopping is done. You can use it to buy a snack or something." She took the list and the envelope with the money in it and then she went to the door, dragging Lee with her.

Ten minutes later, Haruno, along with Lee who was now in a skirt and blouse combination that Haruno had made him wear were walking down the street. "Remember, if anyone asks, your Lee and I am a friend. You are me so act like it." She turned to him and said, "You worry too much." Just then, a store full of fine jewelry came up on their right. It was having a 50% off sale. Instinctively with the conditioned reflex only a teenage girl cold have, Haruno ran over to the window, but not before Lee stopped her. It was much harder than Lee thought due to Haruno's lack of physical strength. "Why are you stopping me?" said Haruno. "Because, I don't ever jump for Jewelry sales and you're representing me right now. So from now until you get your body back, NO SHOPPING, PERIOD." "Fine, be that way," Haruno said, trying to pout only to fail miserably because a tough boy exterior like Lee's face had wouldn't allow for it.

They arrived at the supermarket about ten minutes later. Suddenly, Lee saw a group of people from his class walk past them. He backed away slowly. "What's the matter?" said Haruno, looking confused. "No way I am going in there. Derik was in that group. He is the biggest ladies man in the school. If he sees me in your body, he is sure to try and put the moves on me. Just thinking about it gives me nightmares." Haruno thought for a second, then said, "Then turn back to normal." Lee looked confused until Haruno said "Mode X." Lee transformed into a blue marble and floated onto his own neck. "I see now," said Lee, "If I am a marble, he can't see me. Good one Haruno." Now around his own body's neck, they headed inside the store to pick up his mother's ingredients. It was a very long list. Lee thought it was too long and started to think his mother had planned this on purpose to get them to go outside in each other's bodies. To her, this was probably a dreadfully funny joke.

They went and picked up all of her mothers foods and Haruno proceeded to purchase them. Then when they got outside, Haruno threw the marble into an alley and Lee with Haruno's body reappeared out of it. "Let me help you," said Lee, picking up one of the numerable bags next to Haruno. But, when Lee was about to pick up the bags, an elderly man exited the store that Lee knew to be the owner. "Boy, have you no shame, letting a beautiful girl carry bags. Back in my day, we always did the hauling for the ladies." Lee then looked at the old man, "It's okay. I offered to help. It really is too much for one person." He smiled at her, "Nonsense, you're a lady. Ladies don't carry the shopping." Lee's sides were sort of wrenching at being called a "Lady." He felt like part of his masculinity had just been torn away.

"Sorry Haruno," said Lee walking besides her in her body as Haruno carried all the shopping with his. "It's alright Lee. Besides, for some reason, it is a lot easier to pick them all up then I thought. They feel feather-like to me." "That's because my body has more muscle than yours. I tried to move a chair across the living room earlier and I couldn't even lift it. No offense, but physically, you are sort of wimpy." She smiled and said, "Well, you guys have it lucky. You can get all the muscle you want and still look good. In fact, it makes you look better. We girls have it tough. We can either chose to be beautiful or physically fit. We can't have both to the extent that you can. With more muscles comes less sexiness. Work out too much and we would end up looking like that hideous woman on the fitness channel." Lee thought for a second, and then the image of that hideous woman from fitness hour came into your head. "Yeah, I sort of know what you mean. But you can use your magic to enhance your strength a bit. I used to do that before I used Ki to."

They had about 3000 yen left, enough to go buy a bite to eat, they were both hungry, having not eaten since breakfast. They headed to one of Sarah's favorite spots to grab a snack. They sat down and a waitress came over and gave them menus along with a glass of water. She was pretty young, probably only a year or two older than him. As she was walking away, she whispered in his (Haruno's) ear, "You got yourself a good boyfriend there." She walked away, mortifying Lee for life as Haruno looked inquisitively at Lee. "What was that about," said Haruno. "Nothing, nothing at all."

They looked over the menus and Lee was about to get a Hamburger with fries when Haruno quickly gave him a mental message. "_NO WAY_," said Haruno firmly. "_Why do you get to decide what I eat?"_ said Lee. _"Since it is going into MY body. That'll go straight to my hips. We girls have to maintain or figure which means CAREFULLY choosing what we ea_t." She looked through the menu and then mentally said, "_The best thing would be the mixed garden salad with your choice of drink. And I guess I could allow onion rings if you wanted and I will even allow you your choice of deserts off the menu."_ Lee looked at her with the "ARE YOU NUTS" look. "_That's it last time I saw you eat, you ate like 5 portions. Why do I have to eat so little?"_ She smiled and said, "_Because first of all, this is not a meal, it's a snack so you have to be careful. And for another, I only ate that much because I had never eaten before, my stomach was literally bone dry but I still over did it by a portion or two. You have no idea how much I exercised to work all that off."_ Lee was about to complain, but he decided that he could live with it. "_Okay, but then I am telling you what you need to eat. My body needs a lot more fuel than yours to run smoothly. You'll need to eat a double cheeseburger, fries, a shake and you can choose the desert."_ She looked aghast at this. She didn't comprehend how any one person could eat all that and call it a snack.

They ordered their respective meals the other had picked for them and then waited for them to come. Haruno then started up a conversation, "By the way Lee, if you are in my body, I hope you know that you need to have correct posture." He looked confused at this. Then she said, "For starters, you should stop degrading my body by sitting with your legs together, people are starring." Lee looked across from him at two tables where about 5 boys were starring right at him. He looked down to see what they were staring at and realized he was in Haruno's body with her skirt and panties. He hastily closed his leg together to protect Haruno's body's dignity. "Okay, that's better," said Haruno. Lee then looked at Haruno and said, "Okay, but in exchange, you need to correct your posture." Haruno was sitting just like Lee in the lady like legs closed position. "No boy would ever sit like that, it looks too feminine. Spread your legs and loosen up. Try not to look so proper and such, its too neat for a male." She did and suddenly, each one was looking at the other thinking they were seeing themselves.

Their food came 10 minutes later. Lee was about to dive into his already small portioned meal when Haruno used magic to freeze him, "What the?" said Lee, immobile. "_You can't just gouge your food, it isn't lady-like," _said Haruno telepathically. _"Eat with a little more grace and delicacy. Also, you don't have to eat fast, its bad for digestion."_ Lee submitted to the request and started eating more feminine like being all neat and tidy. Haruno looked at him and said he was far from the mark but it was acceptable. "_Now it's your turn,"_ said Lee to Haruno through telepathy. "_No self-respecting guy would ever eat like this. You need to go all out, a meal is a battle. Also if you eat slow, your and I really mean my stomach will start to hurt. My bodies metabolism is conditioned to digest foods really fast so if you go too slow, it will run out of things to digest and start on stomach acids and trust me, it hurts._" She looked at the large spread of food in front of her. They started eating. Each one was awkward about the others eating style. Lee's style to Haruno was a little gross but she gave in when she felt a slight pain in her stomach from eating slowly. She then went totally aggressive gouging whole fries down. Lee thought that she was almost more aggressive than he was. Haruno on the other hand thought that Lee was far from Lady-like. He ate everything slowly and in tiny portions. Girls did go slowly with small portions but Lee was swallowing it fast. From plate to mouth it was good but after that, it was clear that the person inside the body was a man. At least it wasn't getting on the dress.

They finished without too much trouble and then the same waitress came over after someone took the dishes away and gave them a dessert menu and said she would be back in a minute. "Okay," said Haruno, "I think I will get the chocolate parfait." Lee shot that idea down like a deer during open season. "NO WAY!" he said. Then Haruno said "Why, you said I could choose?" He looked at her with her own eyes, showing Haruno how persuasive her looks were, "Because, no boy would ever order something as girly as a parfait. Go for a Sunday." She chose the banana split special and then handed the desert menu over to Lee. "Okay, now for my choice. I think I'm going to get the Chocolate parfait." Haruno looked at him incredulously, "Hey, I thought you said it was too feminine for a boy to eat?" "Exactly, do I look like a boy right now? No and besides, it is what you would do, after all, you almost did. Besides, I've always wanted to try one but I wouldn't even dare even mention it as a boy." They ordered their deserts and they came very quickly. Lee's chocolate parfait was made with chocolate gelato (Italian ice cream) with pits of dark chocolate fruit, and chocolate sauce spread across the top in a very organized showy manner. If Lee had to describe it with one word, he would use "frilly." Haruno's Banana split special consisted of a scoop of all the main flavors (chocolate, vanilla and strawberry) with a chocolate covered banana in the center, drizzled in chocolate and topped with whip cream and a cherry.

They each ate their respective deserts and hen paid for the food. It ended up being 3010 yen with tax, but the waitress said to forget it. (Note: 10 yen equals about 10 cents American money.) Out of money and too full to walk, they went into an ally with Haruno carrying the food and teleported straight into the dojo. They gave their mom the shopping, who said thanks and they went to Lee's room. Dinner wasn't for another hour or so. They didn't know what to do. Lee had to change back into the Navy blue shirt and white mini skirt because a bit of mud got on the dress from a car and Haruno said it needed to be washed right away.

They spent the next 10 minutes thinking about what they should do until dinner. Lee usually was training but he couldn't due to the situation and Haruno said she didn't like being all sweaty. They decided to go downstairs and watch TV. Then while they were watching TV, Lee asked, "Haruno, I was just wondering, how do you know so much about being a girl? I mean, I know you're a girl and all but as far as I know, even from when you were a marble, it has only been about 4 months since you actually existed." She smiled and said, "I existed far before that inside your linker core but a to how I know, I don't know. I just knew all this stuff when I took human form for the first time. It was probably part of a program designed to give me all the information I needed but I am still learning. I don't know anything more than what you know I know." She then continued to watch TV.

They ate dinner and Lee and Haruno had finally got down the others habits so well that even for John, it was hard to tell that they were in each other's bodies. They finished eating and then along with Sarah, played a board game for about an hour. Then Lee went and finished the homework he had procrastinated doing since he got it the previous week and took awhile to complete that. It was around 8:45 when Lee finished it. Then John came into his room with him at the desk and Haruno on the bed. "Just the usual reminder, Sunday night, shower and get ready for bed by ten." Lee as Haruno said ok, but then a thought crossed his mind, "Wait a minute, how are we going to take showers?" John stopped and thought for a second, "I don't see a problem," he said, quietly laughing to himself. Suddenly, Lee's mother came out of nowhere with a wooden katana and smacked it over his head, knocking him to the ground. "Sorry about that. Why don't you just go in bathing suits?" They said that was acceptable, but then they realized that Haruno didn't have a bathing suit and that Lee's bathing suit was too small for him now. "Well then I just guess you will have to face reality," said his mother."

Haruno went first into the shower and took about ten minutes before she came out, with a pair of Lee's shorts on that were torn and needed to be thrown away anyway. Then Lee went in. He didn't have anything to cover up, as Haruno had no old clothes so he just went in the shower, trying not to look at himself. He came out about a half an hour later due to all the time it took to wash and dry the hair to real Haruno's specifications. Then Lee and Haruno went back to his bedroom. They spent the last twenty minutes looking at the clock, waiting for eleven. It came as a shock to them when 11 hit and they didn't feel a change. "You back yet," said John poking his head in. The smack from Lee's (Haruno's) hand answered that. "Don't worry, it will just take a few minutes. It isn't possible to predict the time down to minutes." Then, about 5 minutes later, there was a flash of light from each of them and when it died down, Lee was looking at Haruno and Haruno was looking at Lee. "Good," said Haruno and she turned into a Marble, floating to the small pillow on the bedside table. Lee got into his own bed and fell asleep right away, tired from what could easily be called the weirdest day of his life.


	33. Start! Tournaments Begin

The Haruno Chronicles

Ch.33 Inter-scholastic competition (Why the hell do they call it that.) We finally get to see Chrono with a sword and who knew you could do that with an arrow.

Disclaimer: Everything, material, characters, locations ect… are property of the respective people.

Chapter 33 – Start! Tounament(s) Begin

Lee woke up the next morning to find that he was being forced awake once again by Haruno, who was in an apron. "Come on Lee," said Haruno in her very cheery voice. Lee didn't know how someone could be that happy in the morning. Whenever he asked Haruno this she just answered, "Being with you makes me happy all on its own." She then walked out of the room once she was sure that Lee was thoroughly wakened. He got dressed and went downstairs to find that Haruno had once again made him breakfast. "You know you don't have to do this every day, not that I mind," Lee said, looking at the full spread in front of him. There was also a place set for Sakura who left a bit after Lee due to their schedule differences and being in different schools. "I know, but I enjoy it," she replied, hugging him quickly as she said this. She had gotten in to the habit of hugging a lot lately, and not just Lee. She hugged a lot of people, Sakura, Sarah, Lance, Chrono and even John, though she did it more to Lee than anyone else. Everyone wasn't bothered by it as it was how she showed her affection so they just let her hug them whenever, not that Lee thought it was bad or anything. There was some good points to it he thought to himself as he looked down and patted her on the head.

He ate breakfast quickly and ran to put his shoes on. The downside to Haruno's cooking was that it was so good; you wanted more and ended up taking forever to finish. When he got up, Haruno changed into a marble on spot and wrapped itself around Lee's neck. Then a miniature hologram-like Haruno appeared floating in front of him. It was actually a physical version of Haruno except it was small and slightly transparent, but she could touch stuff and such. She could also, at will, conceal herself from non-mages eyes so that she could be out as a miniature and not rouse suspicion. Lee, after he was all set, grabbed his bag, a piece of unfinished toast and bolted out the door. He had a literal minute to make the bus three blocks away. He ended up using SHUNPO to run there. He had been getting a lot of SHUNPO training like this every day.

He got on the bus and went t the back, where the other 3 were waiting for him. He sat down and Haruno popped out. "Hello," she said to everyone mentally. Though she could conceal herself from non-mages, she could not hide her voice. They all said hello back in the same fashion. Then she declared that she was going to sleep and disappeared. "Here long enough to say hello then gets to sleep the day away. Boy does she have it good," said Lee. She popped back out and then said mentally, "If that is so, why did you complain yesterday when you were stuck being me. You know that I am able to do the **MIND SWAP** spell very easily. If you wanted to be me, I could do it in an instant." Lee retreated a bit away from the mini Haruno and said, "No, no, I am fine. I like the fresh air, honestly." They all laughed as the bus stopped and dropped them off.

Lee had Chemistry first with Ron, who was excited. "Guess what today is?" Lee and company had almost forgot that they were testing their stink bombs on the fields today. He had the teams gather their bomb, Lee was with Lance and Chrono while Sakura had teamed up with Nanoha and one of Sakura's friends from Middle school, Teri. Then when they were walking down, he said he had a little surprise for them. They went onto the soccer fields and then, one by one in headless protective suits, to air protect their clothing, they made their stink bombs explode, there by engulfing the group who, according to the new plan, was another group chosen at random and engulfed in the stench cloud. Lee's team was testing Sakura and Co. bomb and vice versa. By the time the class was done, they were ready to puke. Sakura was already heading for the nearest trashcan.

Then they had an English class, which was all right. As usual, Sakura stood out like a black dot on white paper with her fluent understanding of the language. Lee was okay but not good and Nanoha and Chrono were horrible. They barley got one out of every three words. Then came lunch, where they went to the roof. Lee was about to go buy some food from the cafeteria but then Haruno appeared out of nowhere and made a bento (Japanese Lunch box) appear in mid air, then, with a bit of effort, carried it with both hands above her head and handed it to Lee and smiled. Lee thanked her, mostly due to the fact that he had also forgot his money and had nothing otherwise. He headed to the roof and joined his friends for Lunch.

Next period was an Algebra class. Here, Nanoha was surprisingly good. She was the best out of all of them and Sakura was the second best. This was Lee's only one weakness, besides all the other academics, he S-U-C-K SUCKED at anything numeric or otherwise. He was barley passing. Chrono was a little better with a mid C but he wasn't that much better. Afterwards, it was the ever-dreaded history class with Nora, the psychotic super feminist. She still picked on the boys but not as much as last class. Now almost all of her antics were aimed at Lee, who answered them calmly and peacefully, and by peacefully, he really meant stealthily and without physical contact. Though he didn't do anything directly to her, he did use a bit of magic to untwist the fire sprinkler above her head just enough to hose her down specifically without hitting anyone else. Somehow, even without evidence, she found Lee responsible for it even though Lee said it couldn't possibly be him (though he was guilt 100%), and was sent into the hallway.

After class, Lee went to the dojo a bit early. There was a 20-minute period in between the last class and the start of after school clubs to allow time for students to drop off their books and get ready. Lee was vice-captain however so he could get in with his keys. He warmed up a bit without anyone there by doing some private Ki training. Chrono came in a few minutes later and started working on another technique, one that John had taught him and was a basic in the Herameki Denkou Ken style. The move was called REINSAITO. The move worked in a strange fashion, even for Lee. The user would do exactly 9 slashes at a very high speed to hit each of the 9 vital points, the head, neck, heart, stomach, liver, lungs, intestines and both kidney spots. These were the 9 main attack points that this style aimed at, if one could hit them all in a single attack, learning the styles other moves would be much easier. The move was also excellent for preparing to teach someone SHUNPO as it dealt with high speed.

About 15 minutes later, Drew came in along with Norman. Then across the next 5 minutes, the rest accumulated as well. When they were all there, he said, "Our tournament against Tokyo Prep was supposed to be last Friday, but a freak act of nature made a large hole in the roof and cancelled school so it was rescheduled for tomorrow, same time, same place which is to say here at 3 p.m. sharp. I have already chosen the people who will go. After looking over the progress and speaking with Mr. Kenton who has been recording everyone's progress, I have chosen the roster. Now before I read the 5 who are going, I want you to know that it has ABSOLUTLY nothing to do with how good you are versus everyone else. I picked those who have shown the most improvement. I will read them now." Every one waited apprehensively to listen for their name. "Myself and Lee as 1st and 2nd," everyone already knew, "Norman for 3rd seat," he said thank you, "Jordan for 4th seat," a junior in the intermediate group stood up, "and for number 5, I chose a beginner on both Norman's and Mr. Kenton's recommendation, even though he is a beginner so for the 5th seat, Chrono." Everyone looked at Chrono all of a sudden. No one, not even Lee had expected it. Lee knew that he was already at least an intermediate Level but Drew or Mr. Kenton couldn't know that yet since he improved between the last club meetings.

"Well, thanks," said Chrono, not really sure what to do. Then they started practice. Lee practiced with Drew like usual. Chrono went over with Norman at Norman's request. "Let's see if Drew was right." Chrono went to the post and at an incredibly fast speed (even with the weights on), he was able to stop just short of the post, but the resulting vacuum cut it clean in half. "To be honest, I didn't expect you to get it that quickly, and with the bands and everything. You definitely have potential. I don't think I am the right person to teach you." He beckoned over Mr. Kenton who walked over and said, "Mr. Kenton. Can I get you to teach Chrono for a while? I don't think I am the right person for someone with this much potential." Mr. Kenton looked at Chrono for a second, then at his hands and said, "I think I could, but you would need to take over supervising the beginners for a bit." "Can do," said Norman and he went over to help them.

He then turned to Chrono and said, "You've been practicing hard." Chrono just said he had been working out. "I see you've also started learning a style, Herameki Denkou Ken if I am not mistaken." Chrono looked surprised, "How did you know?" "To most people it would be insignificant but in my families line of work, we can spot that type of thing just by looking at someone's hands. The position of your calluses and the roughness of them tells me that you have been moving a sword at high speeds with single strikes that have a lot of power and some that were less powerful but in more quantity why trying to aim for one of the 9 vitals. Put together and the most likely style to fit is the Herameki Denkou Ken style. The only thing is that I don't know who could be teaching it to you. It is not what you would call a common style and it is hard to even find an instructor outside of Kaido's mountain region. I know of a temple there that teaches the style but I don't think they taught it elsewhere." Chrono looked amazed, "I am learning it from Lee's dad but out of curiosity, what does your family do." "Ah a good question. My family has a very long line of sword smiths. We go back almost as far as Lee's family has been known for swords. I help make swords for many different places so I know a lot about the different schools and styles. My family is one of the larger distributor of swords in Japan." Chrono then said, "I guess then it would make sense then about how you know so much."

Mr. Kenton then asked Chrono if he had learned any of the moves of the style yet, and Chrono replied that he hadn't but was working on mastering the basic move. Mr. Kenton then said that he probably couldn't help Chrono out yet. Mr. Kenton knew a bit about the style but nothing that could help Chrono as he was now so he said that Chrono should just continue to practice on his own as he went around to check on everyone else. Chrono said okay and got back to work. He got one of the target dummies out and started his practice.

Lee and Drew were fiercely locked in combat. Secretly, Lee was funning magic through the wood under them to keep the room intact. Lee had been forced to go to level 10 of 20 which was about a little bit over Sakura's current level, which was about where Drew was at. Lee had also been forced to remove 4 out of 10 of his 100 kg weights. It was insane how much Drew improved just from getting his butt kicked by Lee. Lee at his current level had to use all his stuff to fight. For what Drew lacked in power and defense, he more than made up for it with speed. Lee also learned that Drew knew something similar to ZAE SHUNPO and to the extreme that Lee was barley able to keep up. He wouldn't be able to if it wasn't for his extraordinary mastery of Ki. Lee was using his KI BLAST technique quite a lot as well. He shot it off like a handgun and hit Drew from afar. This went on for a while.

At the same time that Lee and Chrono were in the Kendo club, Sakura and Nanoha were at the archery range for their club. They had practiced for 15 minutes before Susan called them over there. Okay team, good news, and good news. We have just scheduled our first archery competition against Saroyan high. I know they are a really good private school but I know we can beat them. Last year, we lost by an ingle match, 4-5. There is a lot of talent here this year and I intend to us it. Listen up for those participating." She read off a list of names, and both Nanoha and Sakura were called to participate in the meet. "For those of you called, the competition is tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. sharp right here. I already informed your teachers about this and they have pardoned you from morning classes. Be here promptly." They started practicing like crazy. The non-participants were all gathered at three targets outside the main range to give the people who were in the competition some real practice. Sakura had improved immensely, now able to hit a bull's eye about 4 out of 5. But that was nothing compared to Susan who could do it perfectly every time, even with her eye's closed. It was amazing how accurate she was.

Nanoha was also getting better, able to hit the bull's eye 3 out of 4 almost every time. She too had shown astounding progress. She was as good as top 6 people on the team including herself. She was always practicing and it paid off in the end with her rapid improvement. She easily won the most effort award and the most improved award. Both Sakura and Nanoha were like junior all-stars of the team. They stood out against everyone and anyone on the team. They just kept working at their skills though fine-tuning them and such.

Back at the Kendo club, Lee was in a bit or trouble surprisingly enough. He was out paced to a serious degree when Drew had taken off all his weights. Lee couldn't take off more weights due to the strain the excess power would put on is muscles for not adjusting to the new power before using it fully and he didn't want to release any more sealed Ki because he was afraid of damaging the dojo. Past this level, even Lee had trouble controlling it 100%. He decided to do the tricky thing. He decided to do what he had done in his first real battle with his father when he had just come home from "work." He focused a bit on his magic instead of his Ki and started coursing it through his body. He did a fair amount of power boosting with his magic, but Drew couldn't tell that anything was changing at all. To him, it looked like Lee was just standing there doing nothing and he couldn't sense any increase in ability either. "Here I come, ready or not!" said Drew, charging at Lee. Lee swung his sword straight at Drew, who used his to block only to be blasted back by the sheer strength of Lee's swing. "Holy cow, where the hell did this come from?" Lee then went into a ZAE SHUNPO with magic combo to become so fast that the human eye could no longer register his movements. Drew's eyes were no exception as the completely lost Lee. He had only one option now. He closed his eyes and started focusing his Ki all around him, so it looked like armor. The aura was emitting a weird sound, like a high-pitched ringing sound. Lee didn't know what was happening but didn't try to stop it. He was curious to see this technique.

"What is he doing?" asked Chrono to Norman. "He is about to enter "The state." That is out name for how he becomes with this technique. I've only seen it once. Etch this into your eyes. When he uses this technique, he abandons all the 5 senses along with emotion and battles only on instinct using his spirit to lead the way. When he uses this, he becomes near invincible. Speed, power, Ki concentration and potency, they all increase dramatically with this technique." Chrono, along with everyone else was watching Drew with anticipation. Lee had even stopped moving to see what was happening clearly.

Drew suddenly stopped emitting Ki. Lee could sense a bit of the difference but not much. Drew kept his eyes closed and his mouth shut. He seamed to have abandoned his senses to fight. Suddenly, without warning, he charged at an unheard of speed. There was a flash of Ki from where he took off and he disappeared into nothing like Lee had. Lee perused him, going into the high speed to match Drew. Lee at his current fastest was having trouble. He poured more magic into it and sped up to meat Drew. Then they clashed with many slashes and thrusts. The crowd heard the noises but they came much later than it actually happened due to the fact that they had both passed the sound barrier. Then, suddenly, in the middle of the dojo, both of them reappeared out of nowhere, both with broken swords and dead exhausted. "Want to call it a day," said Drew, collapsing on spot. "Why not, I'll call it a draw," said Lee, also falling to the ground. Lee and Drew struggled to get to the bench and sit down. For the rest of practice, they sat and watched as the others practiced.

Back at the Archery club, Sakura and Nanoha were helping to clean up. They were prepping the targets for the competition tomorrow and getting the ropes set up. They also gathered the arrows and put up the special guard net to protect the arrows from escaping with the school insignia on it. "Good work today," said Susan. "All thanks to you," said Sakura. Nanoha was sweeping the area around the shed. After they were done, they went to the lockers and changed into their normal clothes. Then they left, Sakura headed for her families limo with Nanoha in tow.

At the same time, Lee and Chrono were heading home already. Due to everyone's exhaustion and the tournament tomorrow, Drew released everyone a half an hour early to get a good rest. Lee and Chrono talked to each other until they had to part ways. They said good-bye to each other and went their separate ways. The street were Lee was walking was completely devoid of life so Haruno decided to pop out. She appeared in front of Lee. Lee hadn't expected it but he wasn't surprised by it. "Lee, you can run really fast, you know that," she said walking backwards in front of him. "I guess so," said Lee in reply. Then Haruno asked, "Lee, can I go to your tournament tomorrow?" Lee then said, "Weren't you already, I mean, you go to school with me." She then said, "That's not what I meant, I mean can I go, like this and cheer you on with Sakura and Nanoha in the crowd." Lee didn't see a reason to say no so he said, "Sure, just don't go wild." She jumped up in joy and did her now signature neck hug like always. "Thanks, I'm already looking forward to it."

They headed home and met Sarah outside the house, where she was practicing her Kendo. "Hey Lee, Haruno." she said, stopping and walking over. "Hello, you going to come cheer me on tomorrow, not that I will need it but Chrono probably will, he got picked for one of the 5." "Really, didn't expect that," she replied. "Neither did Chrono, he almost died of shock." "Well I will be there. School lets out at 3 exactly for me so I may miss the first match but I will be there as quick as I can." "Good, Haruno will be in the crowd to," he said, "Try to keep her from going wild." "Will do."

They both headed inside where John was on couch and Mary was in the kitchen. "Hi," he said, sitting up, "Anything worth telling?" Lee replied, "I have my first Kendo tournament tomorrow, and the Archery club has their first competition tomorrow. They are skipping morning classes to let every go watch and clubs and sports are all going to my tournament tomorrow too." "Good for you, are you in the tournament?" Lee then answered, "Of course, as vice, I'm in by default but the real shocker is that Drew decided to put Chrono in the line up too." John looked surprised, "To be honest, I didn't expect him to get chosen so soon. Good for him."

Haruno in the mean time had gone into the kitchen to help Mary with the cooking. In fact, she did a lot of household chore things. Even though they had all told her she didn't need to do them, she always replied, "It's okay, I enjoy it." She had become sort of like a helper to Mary, assisting in the cooking and cleaning, both she was very good at. She even had a few spells to help with the cleaning. Lee didn't know that type of magic existed. John explained that there were spells in all varieties, just that the most well known and common were battle related.

They ate dinner quietly; Haruno had decided to join them tonight. Then Lee went to his room and started to do his homework. Everything else was easy and he didn't have algebra homework today. But Nora had somehow justified herself and had given Lee a 6-page essay assignment on the first Battle of Edo tower. Just when Lee was about to start the assignment, Haruno took all the papers away and said, "She wasn't being fair, you shouldn't have to do this." She then started waving her hand over the paper and the info. "**INFO READ."** She stayed with her hands over all of Lee's research for a second and the stopped. Then she started writing, and very fast. Only 30 minutes later she said, "Done!" Lee looked at and it was perfect. "How did you do this? I didn't know you knew this much about the first Battle of Edo tower?" She smiled and said, "I didn't I just took the information out of your research and put it into my brain using magic." "Now THAT is a neat trick. What are the chances that you could teach me that?" Haruno frowned a bit and said, "Unfortunately, I would say slim to none. The spell, though it looks simple is actually immensely complex. You have to be a master of both support and search magic to be able to use it and you are severely lacking in one of those categories I'm afraid." Lee looked a little down, "It was a nice dream." Then Haruno said, "Well it isn't _impossible._ The main point is the search magic and your really not that bad at that. You'll just need some practice. Besides, I can assist you; unlike you, my expertise's lie outside of battle. I am good with all non-combative magic and barriers." Lee looked a little up and said, "Can I try?"

It turned out that contrary to popular belief, Lee seemed to be a natural at the **INFO READ **spell, though he needed an incantation. Haruno said that it was probably because of Lee's mind read ability that he could do it. Though unlike mind read, this one had no time limit. There was a catch though that Haruno warned him about. Prolonged use would lead to severe headaches and worse case fainting from over load so he had to be careful. But this was also a super gift. No longer would he have to struggle reading books and such, as he could do it in an instant. Lee did it just for good fun on one of his textbooks, and he started reading the information. Then, something happened, the info just disappeared from his head as fast as he could get it. "I was afraid of that," said Haruno, "You can find and retrieve the information easy enough, but you can't keep a good hold on it so it just slips away. I am afraid this spell is as good as useless to you, but it was a good effort." Lee looked a little down at this so to try and cheer him up, Haruno said in a fast cheery voice, "But who needs such a boring old spell anyway. I can do it for you if you really need to use it. Please cheer up Lee." "It's okay, I think it is meant to be. Life has no short cuts." He sat up and finished his Homework.

Later, Lee was waiting for Haruno to finish her shower. Lee had told her to go first as an act of politeness and she agreed. She finished her shower and came out in a dark blue bathrobe that she had bought that weekend. "All done," she said, heading to Lee's room. Lee went in and took a shower. He brushed his teeth and headed for bed. He entered the room to find that Haruno had already "fallen asleep" and had placed her marble self on the bedside table. Lee changed for bed and soon followed.

Lee once again woke up to the now normal routine of Haruno trying to get him out of bed. He went down stairs, ate the large breakfast that Haruno had made and bolted out the door with Haruno around his neck. Lee ended up missing the bus so he teleported to the Kendo club dojo, which he knew, was locked this time of morning. For safe measures, he teleported to the storage closet to make sure no one saw him reappear. This was a good call because 10 seconds after Lee had exited the closet, Drew appeared through the doors. "Oh hey Lee, what are you doing here so early, practicing?" "No, I just forgot a book I left here yesterday." "Oh, well see you here 2:50 sharp. I want to do a quick briefing with the team before the tournament.

Lee headed to his first class of the day, Language class and it passed by quick enough. Then around 9:30 during homeroom, Sakura and Nanoha, along with some other female members of the class left to get ready for the tournament. When they left, Mr. Kenton said, "You wanna surprise them." They all said yes and packed their bags away. Mr. Kenton said that cheering on their sports teams was just as important as education and that it was more exciting as well. They all headed down to the Archery range, where spectator bleachers had been arranged on both sides. The grass was recently cut and the targets had all been replaced with new one. They took their seats to the surprise of the Archery team. Though they were not the only class that was there. Nora's 10th grade history class was also there and another 9th grade class was also in attendance.

Suddenly, Lee had a thought. He ran into the building and made sure no on was looking, he didn't sense anyone and threw his marble into mid-air. "Mode X." Haruno appeared in front of him, "You want to see?" She happily said yes and she followed him to the stands. "Who is that," said Iwamoto, a boy in Lee's class. "Uh, this is Haruno, a friend from out of town. She came to see the match." He mentally told Haruno to go along with it. "Well, you have a very beautiful "friend" there Lee," he said, looking at Haruno. He wasn't the only boy looking at her; almost the entire of the male student population on their side of the bleachers was staring at this sexy looking mystery girl. She grabbed Lee's arm out of embarrassment, much to the displeasure if the other boys. Lee ignored them and watched, as the archery meet was about to begin.

The line up was about expected from what Lee understood of each of their talents. Susan and the vice captains were at the traditional spot at the end of the line up, third to last was Sakura and the 2nd from the top was Nanoha. They each got in line, and then the number correspondent from the other team met up with them. Nanoha was standing next to the 2nd from Saroyan high. Sakura was next to their 8th and the captains and vice captains were also paired up.

The tournament began with the first set. There were three rounds. The first round, their schools representative got 2 bull's eye's and a shot right outside the bull's eye while the opponent had only 1 dead center shot. The second round, their school did worse and they lost it by a little bit. They lost the third round as well giving one of the 5 needed points to win to Saroyan High. Next up was Nanoha versus the Saroyan High 2nd. In the first round, Nanoha had lost her concentration under pressure and had missed the bull's eye twice, loosing the round. During the second round, she got lucky and the opponent had shot one completely off course missing the target and making her win the round as a result. She was shaking, afraid of loosing the third round. "_What are you doing," _said Sakura through telepathy. "_I'm sorry, I feel a bit pressured here._" "_Well then, block it out."_ That gave Nanoha an idea. She closed her eyes and focused. Suddenly, all sound and sight left her. Then she felt out the path of the arrow, using her magic as a second sight. She aimed and shot. Susan was looking intrigued. Though she didn't know what it was, it was obvious that Nanoha had changed in someway. She shot all three arrows perfectly dead center. The second arrow cut through the first and the third cut through the second. The crowd cheered as Nanoha returned to her normal self. Her team members patted her on the back in celebration.

Haruno was cheering loudly from the stands. Lee tried to calm her down but decided that Nanoha had done something exceptional. Lee knew that she had used a bit of magic but nothing that directly influenced the match. She used it as a means to calm herself and Lee didn't count it as a cheat. It was like when nervous people count numbers to calm down. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Haruno hugged Lee in celebration, much to the displeasure of the male audience. So far, Haruno had received 2 date invites, a creepy invitation to go sit with someone and a crazy love confession. It was what Lee had expected. Even he could tell that Haruno's "measurements' were especially attractive to the male eye. Haruno had turned them all down politely saying that she was really not interested. Unfortunately, they took it the wrong way and thought she was actually saying that she couldn't because of Lee. Even though Lee and Haruno tried to explain that it wasn't, they wouldn't listen. They were like bulls rushing for a red target; they had lost all sense and reason.

The next round, they also won but then they went on a 4 in a row-loosing streak. This put a lot of pressure on Sakura as the next person to go. If she lost, it was all over. The Captain and vice were shoe-ins to win theirs so all that needed to happen was for Sakura to keep them in the game. She was so nervous though that she was shaking, a very bad thing if you are trying to take careful aim. She went up to the range; next to her was a very tall and intimidating senior girl who gave Sakura a smile with the easiest to read subtext, "I WILL DEMOLISH YOU." Sakura took aim carefully as she could and got three bull's eyes in a row, but to her misfortune, so did her opponent. Susan came in quickly while the arrows were being retrieved and said, "It's okay, you did great. Three dead-ons is nothing to be ashamed of. Just keep your cool and do the same thing." She ran back out to give the archers their room. Sakura tried to cool herself down a bit. When she had, she took aim and got 2 bull's eyes and a second ring. Unfortunately, once again, her opponent mimicked her perfectly. Too perfectly, the arrows were in the EXACT same spot down to the millimeter.

While the arrows were being retrieved, the Saroyan High rep turned her head to Sakura and said, "I played along copying you to make you feel good, but I am telling you right now, you don't have a chance." She laughed a little, and Sakura started to get really nervous. She started shaking uncontrollably. Nanoha sensed danger and sent her a mental message, "_One is all it takes. The rest are easy."_ Sakura had to think for a bit. She looked around for a bit at her team, where her captain gave her a big-thumbs up and Nanoha smiled. She then looked at the audience where Haruno was jumping up and down, cheering her on. She decide to put her best into it. Filled with more confidence that she had before, she went to her station and prepared to fire, sending her opponent a silent message from her eyes, "Like hell I would ever lose to you." Sakura shot once, and she hit the bull's eye and Her opponent copied her as well. The second one was the same with the same result for her opponent as well. It all came down to this one shot. Sakura concentrated carefully on the shot. She felt it more than she saw it. She as good as had her eyes closed. She blocked out all sound from her mind. She went completely blank for a second with concentration. She was feeling it out with "GUTS" as Susan called it. They both fired their arrows at the same time; Sakura's arrow went so fast though and hit the target so hard that the resulting sound wave blew the arrow off course.

She had seen Susan do this once and though she would try it to, and it worked. It worked by trying to shake the arrow very slightly but fast before shooting it to make it produce a sound that the impact could amplify. Her team cheered as she walked back to their bench. Susan was the first to congratulate her on a nice shot. "Learning that one behind my back, very good." She patted her head and the vice captain did the same. Then her team came and she was engulfed in a group hug, Nanoha at the lead. Haruno was cheering loudly. Filled wit inspiration, the vice and captain both won their rounds easily, winning the tournament. Unknown to most of them, by the time Sakura had gone up, the entire school had assembled to watch out of anticipation and the fact that with the sound coming from the archery range, no one could concentrate on class.

There was a sort of celebratory lunch party throughout the school. They ate their lunched all together in the cafeteria, cheering on all members who had participated. Even Haruno was there offering one of her homemade Bento to Lee, much to the objection of the other guys who had told her not to waste it on him. By now, Haruno's count was 14 date invites, 12 hastily written love letters, 5 love confessions and unknown to her, 3 attempts to _'touch'_ her which Lee had thwarted secretly without startling Haruno. She had turned down all offers much to their disappointment. Due to this, all the other boys had converged into one group they named the OFFICIAL HARUNO FANCLUB, a campaign supposedly against Lee. They had started making bios decrees about all messages to Haruno must be approved by them first by the time they walked away. They had only escaped though due to some needed assistance from the other girls in the school who either felt sympathy for Haruno or were angry with the non-attentive boys who now only seemed to have eyes for this new girl. They had all gone over there, having more than a few of their boyfriends in the group and started yelling at them for being stupid.

After lunch, they had History class. Even though she was not a student, she was somehow persuaded to go to Lee's class by the principle. Lee explained that she was a friend from out of town and that she had come for the archery competition and for the later Kendo match. The principle understood completely and had insisted that Haruno go with Lee to observe his class saying, "There's always room for some education, even if you're on vacation." He persuaded her to go around with Lee for the day so now she was entering Nora's Classroom with him. Nora looked at Lee, then Haruno and said, "Hello, the principle already told me, nice to meat you. I am Nora, the History teacher." Haruno was about to say something to the effect of stop picking on Lee until Lee told her mentally, "pretend this is the first time you've ever seen her in your life." She said hi reluctantly, though to anyone listening sounded sincere and cheerful. Everyone took their seats and then the first thing happened. Haruno had decided to sit next to Lee, dead center in the boy's side of the room. Nora didn't like this and she said; "I think you would like it better if you sat over with the girls." Haruno shook her head and said, "No thanks, next to Lee is fine." She looked a little upset but even she could tell a loosing argument and she could see that there was no way she could persuade her to leave Lee. Instead, she decided to torture Lee instead until he did something to make her hate him and move.

"Lee, where is your History essay I assigned you yesterday. If I don't have it in five seconds, points will be deducted." She started counting but only got to two before Lee had gotten it out. She had not expected him to actually do it and was lost for a second, and then she caught her second wind. When Lee handed it to her, she took it and said, "Actually, I'm going to be nice. I wont count this paper." She laughed and tore it in half, sending it to the floor. She expected Lee to be angry with her for ripping up his hard worked on essay but to her surprise, Haruno was the one to speak out. "Now that wasn't nice. It has to take a lot of effort to make a paper like that, you shouldn't just rip it up." Lee knew that she was angry for his sake but something told him that she was also just as angry because she was the one who actually wrote it.

The rest of class passed with similar incidents. Haruno didn't fail to point out a single mean thing that Nora did. The amount was so substantial that even Nora felt a little guilty for how many times she was mean to Lee, not that that was going to make her stop. Their next class was algebra. Lee was terrible at math and that is something that Haruno ended up being just as bad at. You would think someone who spent half her time as a computerized marble would be better but she actually sucked more than Lee. It was a very slow class but next was the kendo tournament against Tokyo prep.

They ran out the doors and Lee and Chrono ran to the dojo sending Haruno with Nanoha and Sakura and told them to protect her from the predictable onslaught of boys sure to come. They didn't even make it to the end of the hall before they started coming. Lee and Chrono headed to the gym were the formal ring was set up and the school was congregating. All other clubs and sports were canceled today to come and watch the Kendo tournament. Lee and Chrono headed for the lockers where the rest of the competing members were. The rest of the club was on the bench.

"Before we go out there, there is a few things I need to say. First is to go and have fun, and don't worry about winning, even though they beat us 5 times in a row, and I really want to beat them. Scratch my last comment, I WANT THEM ANNIALLATED!" Drew yelled, startling them all. "Sorry, I just really want to beat them. The other thing is that due to this being the first tournament, the schools decided to make it more interesting. The style of tournament has changed to free style. That means no armor, no restrictions and no time limit. The match ends by rendering the opponent unconscious or running them outside the ring and of course if they surrender." This caught them all by surprise, then Lee said, "The easier to kick their butts then. I never was looking forward to that armor suit anyway." They headed out to meat their opponents.

They bowed to their opponents and they bowed back. First up were the 5th seats. Chrono headed for the ring along with someone who looked like a sophomore. Chrono had never actually been in a tournament before but he remembered the rules and stuff from the Cross reunion tournament. Right before he got on, he remembered that training weights were illegal unless otherwise noted so he removed the weights. He felt light as a feather. He bowed to his opponent and took a stance. So far, he only knew one real move, part of a second, and this stance. On the other hand, the other guy looked experienced. Chrono watched as the identified sophomore charged at him. Chrono did know the basics of blocking and attacking from a few lessons with Mr. Kenton. To his surprise, when he dodged, he went so fast that his eyes went blurry for a second. Then he swung around from behind and he tried to do a swing from behind. He learned that he was right in the fact that his opponent was good. He had swung his wooden katana over his head to block it from hitting his neck. Then he shifted to Chrono's side and delivered a nice slash. Chrono ran back quickly. They were in fierce combat for almost 5 minutes, then Chrono decided to give that a try. He did a downward slash at lightning speed but the opponent avoided it. Then suddenly, a heavy blast of vacuumed air hit him on the shoulder and shot him to the ground. "ZERAKI MUNITAISHU or Full invisible hit." The opponent didn't get up so Chrono was called the winner. The crowd cheered and screamed as Chrono walked down from the arena. "Good one," said Lee, offering Chrono his seat.

Next up was the junior. His match didn't last long, his opponent was far beyond his level and he got demolished in an instant. Norman went up next. His opponent was around the same size as him. Norman started of cleaver and went for his speed attacks, now even faster with his weights off. The opponent was caught off guard but guarded against it all the same; then the opponent came back with a bunch of slower, but much more deadly swings at Norman who avoided them. Norman blocked only one of them and it was so hard, it made his hands numb, forcing him to dodge the rest instead of block. Then he retaliated with some monstrous swings of his own. They went back and forth like this for a while, then Norman's opponent did the unexpected. He shot an EZUNA straight at Norman so hard, it knocked him straight out of the ring giving the victory to Tokyo prep. Tokyo prep also won their next match making the count 1 to 2 them.

It was Lee's turn now to keep them in. Lee went up, removing 4 weights and 5 levels of Ki as he did. He needed to be prepared. He felt a strong force from his opponent. Haruno was up in the stands rooting for Lee loudly, being guarded on all sides by Sakura, Nanoha and Sarah who had just arrived. Lee went to the starting position and bowed to his opponent. Lee initiated the first attack, propelling himself quickly at his opponent,, who blocked it away easily. Lee pursued him at a much faster pace, forcing his opponent to speed up. Lee felt light as a feather after removing the equivalent of 2000 kg or 4 metric tons. He sped up even faster and eventually entered into a ZAE SHUNPO. Then his opponent did the same. They started to clash at such high speeds that most the audience could barley keep up with the sounds. Both of them appeared as blurs due to their speed. Lee used a whole bunch of moves on his opponent who dodged them all. Then his opponent stopped and shot a bunch of KI BLASTS at Lee, who countered them with Ki blasts of his own. Then he stuck his sword in the air and started twisting it. Then he started putting Ki into it. "KI SHOCKWAVE," he said, and a literal shockwave, 360˚ shot out and hit Lee. It dissipated before hitting the audience. "Whoa," said Lee from the surprising attack. Lee then countered with another round of Ki blasts. Lee, even with these limits released was having trouble. His opponent was no slouch; he was good, really good. Lee had no other choice. He released 2 more levels, but the gap between 5 and 7 was like that of 0 and 5. It was a HUGE difference. Lee flared up and started emitting Ki unconsciously. His muscles grew much bigger and Lee was on fire. Suddenly, Lee vanished on spot. He had entered ZAE SHNDO and was going fast enough to be unseen by the eye. The opponent couldn't keep up. They were totally outmatched. Then everyone heard a loud bang and the glass in the room cracked as Lee passed the sound barrier. Lee finished it quickly. He did 4 quick slashes to the back and reappeared behind him. Lee walked away as his opponent fainted on spot. "That was great Lee," sad Drew, "Just what I expected."

Now it was all up to Drew. He took his sword out and faced the other teams captain. With all his weights off and all sealed Ki released, it wasn't even a competition. Though it was anti-climatic. Drew annihilated his opponent and walked away, claiming victory for Great Triumph high school. He walked down to the benches and sat down. Even though it was for only 1 and a half minutes, that level of work was hard, even for Drew. They all went to a pizza/café owned by Norman's parents afterwards, accompanied by Haruno, Nanoha, Sakura and Sarah who had tagged along. Apparently, this is what the kendo club always did after they won a match. They ate and drank until they were content. Then they headed home.

Lee headed home via teleportation, to exhausted to move much. He went home and skipped dinner due to the party at the pizza café. Lee went straight to his bed and flopped down onto it. Haruno was around his neck and floated over to her cushion, then her miniature self popped out and came over, "You think you over did it a bit," said the Haruno sprite. "No, I just need to get used to taking my weights on and off. Same with the Ki seals, I need practice there too but I am pretty sure I will have it down for our next match." Lee then fell asleep on the spot, not waking up until the next mourning.


	34. Miss Exorcist

The Haruno Chronicles

Ch.34 We get a new character, classmate and team candidate. Welcome Miranda, the young priestess, evil beware. She thinks magic is Spiritual powers, and Lance confirms it when puts on an elaborate charade, pretending to be a god.

Inspiration for the Character Miranda comes from Ah my Goddess and one of the episodes from Ranma ½.

Disclaimer: Everything, material, characters, locations ect… are property of the respective people.

Chapter 34 – Miss Exorcist

About two weeks passed from the tournaments with absolutely nothing happening in between. Though one Saren stone had been found, by the time they were there, all they saw was a flash of electric yellow light disappear with the prize. Thy teleported back disappointed. Lee was ready to battle just to actually do something. He was starting to go stir crazy from not battling. He was still mock battling everyone but it wasn't the same as actual experience. He never tried to hurt them like he would a Saren Stone manifestation, though his dad was an exception but he seemed to be disappearing a lot lately and when Lee asked him about it, he just said, "Just making a report to HQ."

The next day was a Monday and Lee wasn't looking forward to going to school. He had somehow done something in Nora's class that made her assign him 4 completely unrelated papers. Even with Haruno helping him, it still took almost 4 hours to finish them all due to each one being about 15 pages long. By the time they were done, it was already time for dinner. When Haruno went to help though, Mary told her to relax due to all the work she had just done. Reluctantly, she walked over to Lee on the couch and joined him. "Think of it this way," she said, trying to cheer up the depressed looking Lee beside her, "At least you'll have a better history education than everyone else." "Thanks Haruno, but I would rather be stupid and healthy than smart with information overload." Haruno then did something totally unexpected. She turned around to sit straight on the couch Lee was lying on and moved his head onto his lap. Then started to stroke his hair and suddenly, Lee felt extremely relaxed. Somewhere in the kitchen, Mary was smiling at this.

They ate dinner half an hour later and Lee went upstairs to his room. Then Haruno followed soon after. She wanted to help clear the table because she didn't help with dinner. She entered the room and said, "Remember Lee, I think your teacher said someone was joining your class tomorrow." Lee remembered that too, "Yeah, supposed to be some girl whose family runs a temple. But that's all we know. Guess I will see tomorrow." He then got ready for bed early and went to sleep with nothing better to do.

Haruno woke him up; he ate breakfast and bolted out the door all in 7 minutes, a new record as he bolted after the bus. It had just left his stop so he ran through the woods to catch it at the next and last stop before school. He got on and met his friends in the back. "Hey," he said, taking a seat. "The new student is coming today," Sakura said. "Wonder what she will be like," said Lee. They talked about all the things they thought the new girl would be like, being raised in a very old temple. They talked until they got off the bus. They had to run to class due to a small delay in the bus. They were almost late as they ran into Homeroom where Mr. Kenton was waiting for them.

"Glad you could join us," he said, "Everyone sit down." Everyone took their seats and got situated. Lee looked beside him to realize that Andy wasn't there anymore. He wondered if he was absent today. "Class, I have some good news and bad news. The bad news was that Andy was relocated to the room next door to even out the classes so he will no longer be with us in this room, but you can still see him next door." There wasn't any reaction. As far as the class was concerned, Andy was transparent. No one ever paid attention to him at all. "Now for the good new, as I told you on Friday, we have a new student who just moved here from Kanto and will be with us as of today." Everyone looked to the front of the room to try and get a first look at the new classmate. She entered through the doors. In the front of the room, there was a girl, about Sakura's height, key measurements estimated at 24x88x45 cm (Key measurements = waist x bust x hip). She had perfect black straight hair, tied back in a ponytail and around her neck was a small but prominent gold and silver cross. "Hello, I'm Miranda Sarimoto, a pleasure to be here."

Everyone looked at her, especial the drooling male population. Her "measurements" were far above average or of anyone of the grade for that matter. She then said, "I came from Murikaito Shrine, I have been trained in the ways of a priestess." "Good introduction," said Mr. Kenton, "Now for your seat. How about Andy's old seat, he was transferred to another class so his seat is vacant. If you have any questions, the boy next to you will be happy to answer them. Right Lee?" Lee said, "Sure thing." Miranda headed over to Andy's old seat and sat in it, unpacking her things and placing them into the desk. "Hello," said Lee to Miranda. "Hello to you to," she said. Then she looked at Lee and said, "Can I talk to you after class?" "Sure?" said Lee surprised.

After class, Lee told the rest that he was going to catch up. When they asked what he was doing, he just replied, "The new girl had a few questions." He backed tracked through the hallway a bit to an open area and found Miranda. "Whatcha need. I can answer anything as long as it isn't too out of the park." Suddenly, Miranda's girlish and charming demeanor changed to a serious one, as if she was about to stake her life on a battle or something. "You have a demon following you. Haruno popped out onto his shoulder as the mini hologram and started laughing. Suddenly, Miranda's gaze turned to where Haruno was floating above Lee's shoulder. "You probably can't see it, in fact, neither can I but I can sense it clearly, sometimes even hear it." She then looked straight at mini Haruno, "I… I think it's laughing for some reason." Haruno stopped Laughing and Miranda said, "Now I don't hear anything." She turned to Lee again, "As a priestess, I cannot let a demon roam free. I'll be at your house at 7 sharp for an exorcism." She walked away before Lee could even say anything.

Lee went confused to his next class. Nora was delighted to have another girl in the class. Lee on the other hand probably earned extra homework for the first time under just causes, though he didn't like it all the same. He was out of it the whole class and hadn't answered when called. Even Sakura told him that Nora was right, for once. During lunch, Lee told them about Miranda. "And she said she was coming over at 7 tonight. She didn't even give me enough time to refuse before getting up and walking away." "That's just plain creepy," said Sakura. "Lee, I am going to be honest," Chrono said, "When a girl with those features says she is coming over, you don't complain." This earned him a good smack from all three girls; Haruno was joining them for lunch.

When they had gone back inside, they had found that the entire school was covered in different small pieces of paper tapped to every wall. "I think these are sutras (Sutra = Japanese purification scrolls. Used to ward off evil.) When they entered the class, they saw that it was the same here. Lee's desk in particular was covered in the scrolls and even had a paper banner used to ward off evil. "I think she's gone a little overboard," said Lee.

After school and practice, Lee teleported directly home to beat Miranda to his house, practice had been extra long today. Lee arrived in his room and found his mother and sister downstairs. Lee explained what happened and that she was coming any minute now. "Oh," said his mom, "guess I will have to put more stew up." Not the reaction Lee was looking for, she went back to the kitchen. Sarah then said, "I don't see the big deal, just let her do her thing and she will be on her way." "It's not the exorcism, it's the risk of being discovered." Sarah looked inquisitively at this, "What are you going on about?" Lee answered, "Not a lot, barley any in fact but she does have some remote amount of magic in her and it was enough to feel Haruno's presence. We don't need to make a big scene." Sarah smiled, "then just have Haruno be a human until this Miranda leaves, its that simple." Lee hadn't thought of that and decided what the hay.

Around seven, the bell rang and Miranda walked in. She was wearing her school uniform still, except now she had a bunch of different rings and necklaces and she had a large briefcase. "Hello, sorry for intruding but I can feel the bad vibes already." Mary said, "Not at all, will you be staying for dinner." "Um, I didn't count on that but sure." Mary insisted that they have dinner first and so they ate. Lee introduced Haruno to Miranda using the same ploy that she was an out of town friend staying with them for a while. It was a quick dinner, and then Miranda said, "Now I must start the exorcism." She got up and then she took out a small metal rod, about a foot long. She then took out a second identical one and held both close to each other in opposite hands. She started chanting and Lee felt a very minute amount of magic in the air. She then held both metal rods out and started walking. She entered the dojo where Haruno was cleaning the dusty sword rack. Miranda headed over and stopped in front of her.

"I see," said Miranda. She pulled Haruno up and dragged her to the center of the room. Then Miranda placed a paper ward in a square around Haruno on the floor and placed a sutra on her forehead. "What the," said Haruno, "I can't move." Everyone who was watching was stunned. "What the hell do you think you are doing?" said Lee, now quite annoyed. "I have just sealed the demon," and she pointed at the demon. "She is a friend, not a monster," said Lee, now really annoyed. "I have determined that she is either possessed by a demon or is one herself, either way she must be contained." Haruno was asking nicely to be released from the spirit bond that Miranda put on her. "Not until I purify you." Lee then started to march in to stop this madness to find that some sort of barrier had been made. "Sorry Lee," said Miranda, "But that spirit barrier needed to be strong. It is a very strong one but it blocks everything, not just evil. It has no openings." Lee measured the barrier with his magic and knew that it would be a simple task to destroy but two things prevented him. One was that he didn't want to have to use magic in front of Miranda and he was afraid of hitting Haruno by accident. Haruno said she would be all right so Lee just watched.

"Okay, I'm done." Miranda had just finished placing a wide assortment of sutra's, all with different things on them around Haruno, then had placed four poles vertically around Haruno with a stone on top which had a ward on it. She then started chanting and to Lee's surprise, a faint teal magic circle appeared under her. It was too unnoticeable to anyone looking but he could sort of feel it out with magic. "What type of spell is this," asked Lee mentally. John said, "It feels like a sealing spell and her magic seems to react to those wards. Some magic can be reflected off of surfaces that correspond with it, like water on the ocean or wind in the sky. Of course, it isn't a very powerful one. I think Haruno will be all right, she will just feel light headed for about a hour. At worst, she will be restricted from using magic for a few hours but nothing serious.

"… Mea Gabon CHOU!" Miranda finished chanting and a light grew around Haruno. There was a flash and then it died down. All the wards and other stuff were gone and Haruno could move again. "Done," said Miranda. "What did you do?" said Haruno, feeling light headed. "I drove out all impurities in you. You are no longer possessed by evil. I have to be going now." Miranda then just got up and walked out the front door." "I am tired," said Haruno, "Being exorcised gets me sleepy." She then changed back into a marble, only to find that she couldn't. "What the," she tried again and again, but to no avail. "Don't continue," said John. "That amateur accidentally put a weak seal on you. It will ware off in a few hours but you don't have magic until then."

"Well this is really annoying," said Haruno. "I don't know how you deal with this sleeping thing Lee," said Haruno. "I just do." "Well, I like being able to turn into a marble better. I can rest and be awake at the same time but now I just feel tired and weak. I don't like it." "I'm sorry Haruno, but my dad said that seals were classified as a specials type with explicit rules. The only two ways to undo it is for one, the person who cast it to take it off or two, a specialist comes and works for a few hours decoding it. As neither is possible, you're stuck as is. I'll talk to her tomorrow about this, okay?" She agreed.

The next day, Lee went to school alone as he missed the bus. He ran to school and got into the classroom just in time. Miranda was next to him. "I need to talk to you," Lee said to Miranda. She said during lunch break and they decided on the roof. Lee told everyone about this meeting and they said to be careful. They had called Lance over. He would stand by near them in the sky using a stealth spell to become invisible.

Lunch came quick that day and Lee appeared on the roof. Miranda arrived a few minutes later. "So what do you want? Want to thank me for the exorcism or something or do you want me to explain it again or something." Lee and the others had already planned out what Lee should ask. "Lets start with the first question. How did you "exorcise" my friend, who by the way was inconvenienced due to said service?" "I don't know if you could understand it but my family has a history of brave priestesses. They have been developing exorcism methods for hundreds of years. I sort of just feel out the power and chant an incantation and use the wards and scrolls to perform the ceremony. My family calls it divine power given to us by the gods to help them in their fight against evil." "Okay," said Lee, "I sort of follow, like my families sword history. Next question; why do you think that Haruno was possessed by evil?" Miranda then said, "I was trained to_ feel_ evil and other presences. Her presence was stronger than normal humans so that is how I knew there was a Demon in her. No human could ever be that spiritually strong."

"Okay, now my last question. Where did you learn to do this all?" She then answered, "I don't think you will believe me, but I'll tell you. It has a story to go with it." She motioned for them to sit down and he did. The she started, "I learned from my mother, who is the current head priestess at the shrine I came from. Each priestess learned it from their mother or grandmother in some cases and it followed back about 500-600 years ago. Now you are wondering who taught the first one then. Right? Well, our family has a legend about that and there is proof to prove it was true too. A very long time ago, a group of demons attacked a village somewhere in what is now Kanto. There, a very young priestess disciple was training on her own to beat the demons, which took over the town and now used the villagers as slaves. She had no master to learn from and asked the gods to give her help and enlightenment. When she was praying that to the gods, a ray of light appeared and a person with wings made of blue light came down out of nowhere. He taught the girl how to use spiritual power and left her with a precious item he called REN or Divine blade. This item could turn into the ultimate spiritual item that vanquished the demons. That item has been what has been passed down from generation to generation, but no one besides her has ever been able to activate it, look." She took out a pure white diamond from around her neck. Lee looked at it and said it was interesting. "It is my dream to one day be able to use this and help people."

Lee looked at her. Granted, se was a bit over the top but her true intentions were true enough from what Lee could tell. "Okay, I got all I needed. Thanks." Lee walked away and through the door. Miranda walked after him but when she opened the door, Lee was gone. Lee had teleported about 100 feet over the school to where Lance was watching. Floating over, he saw Lance deactivate the spell. So did you get that all?" asked Lee. Lance held up a small glass sphere, "Already downloaded it all to your account on the ARTIMIS mainframe. We can all meet later and discuss it but I have a few theories already, but I need to go do some research. I'll be in the hanger at seven but this is going to take some time so don't shoot me if I'm a bit late." He disappeared before Lee could ask where he was going.

After an exhausting Kendo practice where Chrono had finally completed a move he had been working on for a while, they all met at Lee's house. Andy was coming too; feeling left out of the loop and his special search skills would be of some use. Sakura had convinced her parents to let her go as it was only to Lee's house. John was also curious as was Sakura and Haruno so they had a pretty full group. It took two elevator trips to get into the hanger, which had an anti-teleport spell put on it. When they all got into the hanger, they entered the complex that was built into the wall and went to the central meeting room. It was around seven 20 before Lance arrived, "Sorry guys, it took a little longer than I expected." "It's okay, it wasn't that long." They all sat down and started the meeting.

Today's meeting topic is our new transfer student. The display behind him turned on and showed a face shot of Miranda. It followed along as Lance continued, "Her background is of a shrine in Kanto, a long ancestry of priestesses and monks." The video of Lee's conversation at lunch Lee had asked Lance to record started playing. They watched the entire thing, then Lance continued, "I have looked at the conversation and cross referenced the data. I have found from magic scan tests and other references that her family has had a history of magic, not a lot but more than normal, about the equivalent of the Bureau's B ranked soldiers, nothing extraordinary. Their "spiritual power" is probably magic and their "exorcism" is probably either a sealing or combat spells that made the enemy disappear." Every agreed that this was probably the reason for their "powers".

"Next, I've analyzed the story about the first Priestess and the supposed light winged apostle from the gods and have cross referenced it with archives from the Infinite Library." Lee turned to his dad, "What's the infinite library?" "It's an inter dimensional library that has magically records everything and anything ever recorded. The only problem is that it is all randomly piled onto each other. No organization what so ever. This makes it very difficult to find stuff, even with specialized search magic. So usually a team of specialist has to be formed and it can take weeks to find what they were looking for. Lance though has a very special talent for information sucking and was able to do it in just a few hours by himself, a great achievement." Lee was impressed as Lance continued.

"Anyway, I cross-referenced every mage who came to earth with the story that Miranda told Lee. Basing it off of an event that I found in the records in the infinite library, I have a theory. A mage was reported to have landed here some 527 years ago somewhere in the middle of May. Around the same time, there was a reported magical anomaly happening on earth that resulted in a bunch of creature manifestations attacking the nearby village. Outnumbered, the mage probably enlisted the help of a girl, similar to the young priestess from Miranda's story, who we have on record of having a AA+ rank by our standards. The mage also left earth without his device, which was a white diamond necklace." The screen zoomed in on the white diamond Miranda had shown Lee. "He probably gave the priestess the necklace to help her battle off the summoned creatures. The mage in question was only a B ranked commanding officer. He probably left the device to help the priestess if anything else happened," Lance concluded, the screen turning off and the lights returning too normal.

"Good theory," said John, "I think your as close to the truth as we can get without being there. I am going to surmise though that the mage who was sent here probably was directly related to the priestess. Normal people with magic can't give it to their children hereditarily unless it is a recessive gene." Lance thought about it and said, "Yes, but the fact remains that the mage came and was only on earth for about a month. No more than that. I also looked up the priestess's family line and their all native so I think it must be a recessive gene." Chrono then said, "Okay, so what I am supposed to learn from this is that Miranda has some dormant power in her and a device, both of which she got hereditarily. And she knows how to use it to a minor degree." Lance then said, "Not to over-simplify, but yes. Although, If my theory is correct, then her power should be around a AA class minimum Especially sealing magic takes a good deal of power. She has some potential. Being a sealing type is good too."

John then said, "Now here is the real question. Do we tell her and try to persuade her to join us in our fight or do we let her stay as is and out of harms way? I leave that decision to you all. After all, it would be you she would work with." They all thought about it a lot and they couldn't think of a good answer. On the one hand, they could always use another ally, especially one who could help seal. Right now, Lee and Nanoha were the only ones. But on the other hand, she could do one of the following. First, refuse to help them and then they would risk exposing themselves, second, she could agree to help them but could get hurt and they would have themselves to blame and third, she could just use magic for her own benefit and leave them when they were done teaching her.

They weighed them out and then Lance said, "I have an Idea." They all turned their heads to look at Lance. "I think we should test her. She doesn't know about me yet so me showing myself to her isn't revealing anything. I can teach her the vital basics. Not enough to make a difference or even activate her device for that matter but enough for the small things. Basic stuff they teach 10 year olds in magic prep schools. I will observe her and see what she does with it. If she shows that she is the helping type, then we ask her and teach her the full course. But if she just uses it for vein reasons, then we let be and pretend as if she doesn't have magical powers. I will appear before her the same way as in her story as some messenger of the gods and we'll see how it works. Sound good?" They all thought the idea was brilliant. They all gave thumbs up to lances idea.

The next day, it was a national holiday so school was out. Miranda was going around the park, having "sensed," a presence. Lance then lead his "presence," so Miranda ended up in an open but abandoned area in the woods. There, a ray of light appeared in front of her. "What the?" she said as the ray became a large sphere. Then Lance popped out of that sphere. Miranda popped back, "Where did you come from?" Lance then teleported behind her and started floating a few inches off the ground and used his magic to form two glowing green wings on his back. "Who are you?" said Miranda in amazement. "Me, I am the gods messenger. Sakami had the same reaction so I am not surprised." But when Lance looked at Miranda, she didn't look surprised, but she instead looked like she was about to explode with happiness. "I have been praying and praying for this to happen. I have hoped all my life for this moment." She looked like a small child in a candy store.

Lance led her, floating above the ground to give off the god like impression. He led her to his old campsite, protected from non-magic intruders. "What is this place? It feels funky." "This is an area where no one but us can enter. I used this exact spot to train Sakami so long ago." Lance thought he was putting on a very good act. Miranda was soaking it up like a sponge at least. "Okay, before I say anything, lets sit down." He made two chairs appear in front of him using a simple transfer spell. They sat down, Miranda egger to listen to this messenger of gods. "Okay," said Lee, "First off, I want to tell you why I came. I came to see if you could help. Lately, there have been a bunch of evil demons and spirits flowing around the area lately. I am usually enough to handle it but the numbers have risen out of control and out of what I can do alone. Therefore, like I did 527 years ago, I need to enlist the help of someone with extraordinary spiritual power. As you are both a descendent of the first one and have a good amount of spiritual power, I have decided that I shall choose you to help me, if you consent." She nodded immediately, wanting to get started.

"Good, to vanquish evil, you need to be able to so three things, attack, defend and seal. You have one of them down pretty well so we can skip sealing, but you don't know how to use your power for spiritual combat, do you?" She shook her head. "I thought so. Most people don't. Okay, I will show you. If you get good enough at it, maybe I'll even tell you the secret of that white diamond you've inherited." Her eyes lit up at the words "white diamond." "You mean that it is even possible." Lance laughed, "it is possible for anyone with power, but you need to meet a certain requirement." "What is it," she said eagerly. "I can't tell you that, you need to figure it out on your own." She looked a little bummed but Lance then said, "But I can tell you this. Any genuinely good-natured person will know the requirement. Now lets start training."

They started. Lance showed her the real fundamentals of magic. Much more basic than anything he had ever taught Lee or the others. He first taught her how to summon her "power" into a small sphere, which could be shot at will. To Lances surprise, after the hour of work, she had not only been able to make a sphere and launch it, she had learned how to control it on her own. That was one step ahead of what Lance had decided to teach her too. The second thing was the difficult one. He was teaching her the basics of barriers that were called **THE WALL**. It was the most basic defensive technique in the known universes, which simply made a small wall of magic in between the user and the enemy. She showed her ineptitude for defense. It took them a good 2 to 3 hours to finally get it down. She turned out to be okay with barriers after passing the first hurdle.

"The last thing I want to teach you is binding and focus. Binding to restrain and focus to increase." He looked at a medium rock next to him and faced the palm of his hand at it. Suddenly the rock was bound by green spell ribbons and still tied, it floated up next to Lance. "This is a bind, a restraint spell. Good for making things immobile to gain some needed time." The next thing he did was grab the rock, the bind disappearing as he did. "The next is focus," he poured a little magic into the rock. "Like this rock for example," he threw it at a much larger boulder. It hit and with the force of the magic Lance put in it, it crashed into it and made a big hole on the side of the boulder. "Good for enhancement of normal objects. Now lets see what you got." She ended up being very good at both. She bound up a large rock within 30 minutes of starting the training. The focusing took much longer, about another hour but she got it down just as good just the same.

"Okay, I believe that is all I can do today." She came over and said, "Am I done already, that didn't feel like much?" Lance laughed, "No, you're not done. You need fine-tuning. I will see you in exactly three days; I believe you do not have school on a Saturday so that should work out. Until then, just go about and do some good for the world." Lance then vanished on spot before Miranda could even say anything. Miranda then started walking home, trying to think of things to do for the next three days with her new powers.

The next day, Miranda came running into homeroom and sat down next to Lee. "Lee," she said, wiggling her desk closer. "What?" said Lee, though he had a good idea? "Remember that story I told you yesterday, the one about my ancestor. Well I discovered it was true yesterday. The messenger came from nowhere right in front of me and taught me, here." She made a small ball of magic, though she huddled it to hide it from view. "Whoa," said Lee in mock admiration. "Guess you really were taught by the gods. Well remember that old cheesy expression. With great power come great responsibility and all that junk." Lee then turned away and looked into the sky where he knew Lance to be secretly watching over Miranda. "You did a number on her for sure," said Lee, laughing on the inside. "_Wanted to be convincing. Guess I may have gone a little overboard though."_

School went by pretty quickly that day. By 5 o clock, Miranda was already half way home. Lance watched her as she want into her shrine house and started practicing what he had taught her. "Maybe I'll give her a little test tomorrow," said Lance to himself. She worked on each power for about 20 minutes apiece. Lance went home after a while knowing that nothing was going to happen. She continued to practice and she got a little better. She stopped after dinner though. Then she went to her room and lay down on her bed. She then took out the white diamond and looked at it. "You'll see," she said out loud, "I will be able to unravel your secret. I will be the one to use you once more. We will do good together." She looked at the white diamond in curiosity. For a second, she thought it had glowed white for a second.

The next day, Miranda left the house to go to school. Lance was following her with stealth magic and this time was hiding his magical signature so she couldn't sense him. She was walking to school when she heard a scream. She saw a kid in the middle of the street and a car was rushing straight at her. Miranda instinctively held out her hand and put up a barrier. The car crashed into the barrier and there was smoke. Miranda looked to where the car was. Everyone else was also looking. It was a legitimate phenomenon to them. The car had crashed but the kid was okay. It also looked like the car had hit a pole or something though nothing was there. Then just when people looked over to Miranda to try and find an explanation, Miranda unknowingly disappeared into nothing.

Next time she opened her eyes, she was in the abandoned part of the park. Lance was in front of her and was smiling. "That was noble of you, very noble." "It was, I mean, I just did it instinctively. In fact, I don't know why I even though of doing it. It just happened." Lance smiled, "It's okay. Your power reacts to emotions. When you saw the kid, you just wanted to help so your power reacted to that and created a barrier. It was instinctive. But make sure you are more conspicuous in the future. I forgot to mention another rule is that beyond those who know of its existence, you can't reveal your power. In other words, don't use it openly in public. Okay, we don't want to make a scene. This time I could move you away before anyone realized but only because of the smoke. I may not be able to do it again. I'm not saying to not do that type of thing, just do it more secretively, okay?" "Sorry and sure. I will if you say to." Then she thought back, "Um, what if I showed it to someone already?" Lance looked a little worried, "Who?" She answered, "Someone in my class. His name is Lee and I am sure he would keep it a secret if I told him to." Lance relaxed a bit, "Only if you make him promise not to tell anyone. If you do, I won't hold it against you." "Really," she said, "Thanks." She walked away, heading to school as Lance disappeared into the wind, following her invisibly.

She went to school and headed for homeroom. She then immediately sought out Lee and as good as dragged him out of the room onto the roof. "So what is this all about?" said Lee, confused. "Um Lee, you remember what I showed you yesterday." "What, you mean that magic floating orb thing. Yeah, I remember. That's pretty cool. Did you learn something new?" "Um, no. But I did get a warning from the messenger. He said that I am not really supposed to tell anyone about my spiritual power. I told him you knew though so he said that it was fine as long as you swore to secrecy. Can you do that?" Lee didn't know what to say. He was silently having a laughing fit in the inside though. "Sure, I won't tell a _living_ soul about it. Can't promise you anything about the dead ones though." Miranda started to laugh. "Thanks Lee. I've only been here a week and I already feel like you're a friend." She walked downstairs and to class as not to be late. Lee followed suit.

They had a full day of classes. After the classes were done, they went to their sports. Miranda hadn't chosen a sport yet. She decided to go out for Archery, which was a common practice for Priestess's. She had had a few lessons before and was okay so she thought it was the best bet. She headed for the Archery range. Susan had already been informed by the administration that a new student was joining the team. Miranda had already been given a uniform and she went to put it on. It was just like a priestess's uniform.

She arrived at the archery range and saw that many members of her own class were there. She saw Lee's friends and a few others as well. Lance was watching from above. Susan then immediately sought her out and asked her to sit down in the chair next to her. "So you must be Miranda, I was told that you were joining the club today." Miranda answered, "Yes, I am. A pleasure." Susan then said, "So do you have any previous experience with archery? I heard you grew up in a shrine and am in training to become a shrine priestess. This is a priestesses forte." "All are true, but I only know some archery. It is a priestesses main weapon against evil." "Okay, lets see what you got, I get you a bow and set you up, and then I can see what you got."

Susan got Miranda a bow and told her it was hers to take care of, then she got her a few arrows and too over the first archery range. "Okay, just take a few shots for evaluation purposes." Miranda went up to the line and picked up an arrow. Lance watched to see what would happen. Miranda set it up on the bow like her previous instructor had taught her. Then she pulled it back. Now the difference from regular archery was at this point, her priestess instructor had taught her to try and focus her power into the very tip of the arrow. This was to spiritually empower it to strike down evil. She tried it, though not ever having done it successfully. She focused and her power went into the arrow. A small wind blew from it. Lance could feel it and so she wasn't discovered, put his own spell on the arrow in secret to disguise the arrow from what it was. It would look normal to the normal but not to those with magic.

She felt it as she empowered the arrow. She let it loose, a wind bursting from her feet with the power. It shot at lightning speeds at the target and on contact, blew the target back into the capture net, then piercing right through it and into the rock behind it. Coincidentally, it hit the same spot that Sakura's had hit. "Holy mother of–," said Susan, looking at the target. To her along with everyone else though, it looked like the arrow had just pierced the target and the rock. They didn't see the wind or the trail of magic left in the air. Lance hastily corrected the differences before dispelling the illusion. "N-I-C-E nice," said Susan. "I seem to be getting a lot of exceptional new members this year. And to think all three of them are only in 9th grade. You must've been underestimating your previous training or something." Miranda blushed. She didn't show it, but on the inside, she was just as surprised as Susan. "Not really, I never was this good during my previous training. But that was 3 or 4 years ago. Guess people change over time." "Guess so," said Susan. They then had a regular practice for the rest of the time.

After school, Miranda was walking home when Lance decided now was as good a time as ever to test her. "There it is," said Lance, pulling out a small glass marble that was glowing green with his magic. He erected a barrier to cut off the immediate space. Miranda felt a chill but nothing beyond that, as there was no one around in the vicinity. He threw the marble at the ground and it broke, creating a green magic circle. "**AKUMA SUMMON, LEVEL 1."** Suddenly, a large black fox, the size of a house appeared. "What the…" said Miranda, looking at the creature in front of her. She then focused and could tell that it wasn't normal. "Okay, You must be a demon," she said, getting into position, getting out her seals and a small tealeaf branch. "Prepare to be exorcised!" she said. The demon attacked by shooting a sphere of black magic, which Miranda deflected with her magic. "Okay then," she shot a bunch of medium sized blasts at the fox, which then flew up into the air. "Holy, how can I compete with that." The fox then shot down a beam at the ground, making a huge explosion. Miranda put up her best barrier and with a few paper wards, made a barrier strong enough to block it, but some still got through as she was knocked back. Miranda got back up and took out her bow and a few arrows. "TAKE THIS," she shot an arrow she had super charged with magic, which hit the fox straight on. But the fox just flew higher into the air. Lance could tell how this fight would end. The fox was attacking from out of Miranda's current range. "Guess I have no choice." He opened a mental channel up with Miranda. "_Can you hear me? Respond by using your heart."_ Miranda got the message mentally and decided to give it a try, "_Like this,"_ She said. "_Yes, now I want you to listen to me very clearly. Stop and look into your heart. What you need now will be there."_ He cut the conversation off there and Miranda was left clueless.

Lance was starting to feel worried. It was 5 minutes after he had talked to Miranda but nothing had changed. But Lance felt worried for another reason. He had summoned a level one fox beast from his home world. But this fox was supposed to be very weak, only able to shot minor blasts but this one was using much more powerful magic. It was also using beam and buster type attacks that a fox beast shouldn't be able to do unless it is a level 5 or higher. Suddenly, the fox few up higher so it was higher than the buildings in the city, then it charged up a large sphere of magic. "It can't be!" said lance to himself, "Only the highest level can do a Breaker. Oh crap, Miranda!" Lance went shooting towards her but he was too late. The fox shot the breaker at Miranda, who was already exhausted.

"I-WILL-NOT-GIVE-UP," said Miranda, getting to her feet again, stumbling on her feat, her knee's buckling a little. Then a voice came to her, a soft feminine voice. "The New user is acknowledged and accepted. Call me out, SAY MY NAME." Then words came to Miranda. "REN, protector of the soul, SET UP," Suddenly, a giant white pillar came out from where Miranda was standing. The breaker disintegrated when it made contact with the white light. Then Miranda reappeared, now totally changed. Her clothes were unlike anything Lance had ever seen. She was in a white and red outfit. She had a tight white shirt with a red blazer. Then she had a red with orange trim mini skirt with white stockings, leading to wooden getas and finished off with a single white hair ribbon giving her a black ponytail. She had a yin-yang symbol on the blazer. Next was her staff, also unusual. It had a tall, red body with a perfectly circular head with a pointed arrow on top. In the center, there was a white diamond and on the edge of the circle, there were three loosely dangling golden diamonds on each side of the circle, making six in all.

"What the," said Miranda, looking at the staff and her new clothes, "Device Set, Staff materialized, main system rebooted, new owner acknowledged. Ready to go master," said the white diamond in the middle of the staff. Lance then made a quick intervention, "_Miranda, this is the true form of the white diamond, and that thing you're holding is the staff from the legend. Its name is REN and it has chosen you as the successor."_ Miranda looked at the staff, but she wasn't given much time as the fox blasted a second breaker at her. "Whoa," said Miranda. Suddenly she was lifted into the air at high speeds. "I'm FLYING!" she said, shocked. "_BELIEVE!" _said Lance. Miranda then felt something on her, calling out. She aimed the staff at the fox beast. "**TRINITY BLAST**," she fired off a spiraling shot of white magic, hitting the fox a shooting it through the air. "Now try this one," said REN, sending the idea to Miranda mentally. She aimed the staff up and said, "**YIN-YANG BUSTER.**" Then two spheres of magic appeared in the air but something was weird. They weren't coming from Miranda. It was as if they were coming from the air itself. One was white and the other black. Then they started circling each other really fast until they were intertwined. She then aimed the staff at the fox. Now the two spheres were circling fast outlining a circle at the head of the staff. "**YIN-YANG BUSTER!" **She shot a ray of white and black magic, still spiraling around each other at the beast. It collided and shot it to the ground in a huge explosion. When the smoke disappeared, the fox was gone.

Exhausted, Miranda flew to the ground and instantly changed back to normal, the white diamond floating around her neck. Then she fainted on the spot and collapsed. Unconscious, she laid on the ground. Lance appeared next to her. "You have potential but need training if that level of magic makes you tired. Guess I will bring you home." Lance then teleported himself and Miranda to Miranda's house, located in the central Tokyo shrine.


	35. The Beginning of the End

The Haruno Chronicles

Ch. 35 While Miranda learns some cool new tricks, The rest of them are in a ferocious battle over the ocean and they have special guests. Sora is back along with their next-door neighbors Matt, Garret, Rachel and Louise. The hardest one yet as they try to seal TEN stones at the exact same time.

Disclaimer: Everything, material, characters, locations ect… are property of the respective people.

Chapter 35 – The Beginning of the End

Miranda woke up about an hour later. She was in her bed and felt tired, though she had just woken up. "Was that all a dream?" she thought to herself. "No, it was all real," said Lance, who was sitting on a chair next to her bed. "Whoa, how did you get here? Or for that matter, how did I get here?" Suddenly, A women walked into the room, "Well I can tell you right now. This boy brought you in himself. You were asleep in his arms. He said you had fainted and he brought you back as he was a friend of yours. You should thank him properly later. But for now, dinners ready. Will you be joining us Lance, there's enough to go around." "Sure, if that's alright." "Good, it will be ready in a few minutes." She left the room and headed for the kitchen. "So can you explain to me exactly what happened?" Lance replied, "Later, we should eat first, it replenishes energy and I'm starving."

They went and had dinner with Miranda's mother, then went back to Miranda's room so Lance could give her a proper explanation. "So explain to me what exactly happened. I mean I know what happened, and it was really cool but I mean WHAT happened to make it like that?" Lance looked at her closely. He had been thinking about how much to tell her and what to say for a few hours now. "Okay, I am going to be honest with you. That was a test; the entire monster attack was a test. I summoned it to see how good you were." "A TEST," she said, "A TEST. I almost was killed and you call that a TEST." Lance recoiled a bit but then said, "I understand why you are angry. In fact, there was a problem with the summoning and I accidentally summoned a much more powerful opponent than intended so the fact that you won is just made much more impressive. And the danger forced out your potential so actually, it proved beneficial. But don't worry, if it had gotten too dangerous, I would have stepped in, in fact I almost did but you rose to the challenge, even got REN to recognize you." "Alright, I'll forgive you only because it was an accident."

"Good, moving forward to the next part, what happened was that when your life was in danger, your magic shot up to it's peak and activated that dormant device." "Device?" said Miranda, confused. "Yes, device, that is what we call items that can transform into magic conductors. There are many types though. Yours is the generic staff type, giving you a barrier jacket and a staff. That device is called REN or Divine Blade. It has accepted you as the new owner so that is why you are now able to use it. It is probably set so it won't work for anyone without a certain amount of power, which you exceeded in that one moment of danger. Now that diamond is rightfully yours. Keep it on you at all times." "Sure, but can you teach me some more. I used two spells as far as I can remember. Can I use more?" "Yes, there are many to learn. And there are also spells that are individual to each person so you probably have unique spells to you."

Lance left saying good night and good work for today and that he would be back tomorrow to teach her some more. He had promised her to teach her how to use REN on Saturday anyway. He flew away from the house and to the bureau's house across from the park, then he went in and took the basement elevator to what had been renamed the EARTH TSAB HEADQUARTERS. It had been gradually expanded and new parts were being built until it was so large and complex, it could no longer be called a hanger. Other Bureau members had been stationed there as it was the general's home planet and so there were now some 500-bureau members there now. A residential wing had been added as well as a fully operational medical facility, mass teleport room, and recreational area. Lance headed to the meeting room to talk to everyone. They had decided that the conference room was much better than a bedroom for a meeting.

Lance entered the room to find that everyone was there. He also noticed the donuts on the table. "Want one," said Lee, holding one out. "No thanks just had dinner. Lets get on task now." He sat down and everyone quieted down. "Okay, lets hear the results," said Lee, "And before we do, the rest of us have decided to let you decide Lance. You're the only one with first hand experience and thus the only one to be able to make an accurate decision." Everyone nodded in agreement. "Okay then. I already know my answer." He then made a magic circle in front of him with a touch screen in the middle. He pressed a few buttons and the large monitor behind him turned on, as well as the small one's in front of everyone. There was a bunch of battle data. "This here is the stats I got from her when I did a small test." "These are fairly impressive," said John, looking on in curiosity. "Yes, and there should be an error on those sheets as well. It says level one where it should say level 10. I messed up the summoning spell and summoned the most powerful one instead of the weakest and she still beat it. Though it was probably still more powerful."

Lee looked through the data again as Lance had them watch a video of the battle. "Okay, said Lance, turning it off. Does anyone have anything to say?" "Yeah," said Lee, "Just what is up with that last attack of hers, the "**YIN-YANG BUSTER?" **It's different from a normal attack." "Yes, I saw that too," said Nanoha, "Sort of reminds me of my **STARLIGHT BREAKER.**" "Yes, it is very similar," said Lance. "I analyzed it and it is the same in principle. Like your breaker, it gathers magic residue from the surrounding area creating an attack. It is the same here except that her attack, unlike yours separates her magic from her opponents, creating two different spheres. Then she has the spin around each other to give it a drill effect, making it a little less powerful but it could pierce a shield much more easily. It also is an attack that doesn't require much magic output from the user, making it a nice attack for when their tired. The only downside is the casting time, which is a bit longer than average."

"Okay," said Sakura, "We know all the facts, now what do you think we should do?" Lance looked at them and said, "As I told you, I had a solution in mind already. She was a bit overwhelmed by the test and she is rough around the edges, so what I think we should do is introduce her to magic steadily. For now, we won't tell her about us, or what her power really is. But I will go and train her in the mean time and when she is ready, we will tell her everything. I'll give her the full course this time, not the basic one I already did. Is this okay with everyone?" Everyone looked around the room and nodded. "Thanks, she is a good mage but she needs fine tuning. I will look after this."

They all left to go home. Lance decided to go do a bit more research and left for the infinite library. He had a top-level pass for the library due to what he did on his home world. He teleported to the library's lobby; the library and the buildings attached to it were it's own separate dimension altogether. He walked to the desk and showed his pass and walked in. Inside, there was an endless vertical tunnel running in both directions. He jumped from the platform into the middle. The room had no gravity so he just floated in mid air. Then he said, "**INFO SEARCH, MAXIMUM LEVEL."** He started looking through them, volume after volume, searching for what he wanted to find. It took him hours of work to find the stuff he wanted. By the time he was done, it was about 3 am Japan time. He then quickly left, as he was exhausted.

The next day was Saturday; Lance had slept in a free room at the base house the one used as the entrance, not wanting to disturb Sakura's parents with his entry (remember, he was staying there as a ferret.) He woke up and got dressed. Then went to the elevator and arrived at Lee's house. He had told Lee yesterday he would be over for breakfast so they were expecting him. When he got there, he saw Sarah, Lee, Haruno, John and Mary all sitting around the table. There was an extra seat there that Lance took as a gesture that they were expecting him. He ate a large breakfast, and then said he was heading off. Lee and Haruno were going to the base to do some training. Lance went to Miranda's house and appeared at the front door. Miranda came out before he even knocked, egger to start today's lesson. Lance decided to take it nice and slowly to give her time to adjust. Her powers still needed to awaken some more, proof being she collapsed from two spells yesterday. "Okay," said Lance, "I guess today, as promised, I'll teach you about REN." He spent the next few hours teaching her how to activate REN and to do it at will. She had a lot of trouble at first, but then she finally got it after a while. Lance then also taught her about spells and stuff you could do while transformed. She learned another spell called **DROP SHOT,** it created a large magic circle over an area, then blasted a column of magic down at it the size of the area, creating a large blast of magic and hitting everything in the vicinity. The maximum she could make it right now though was about 5 meters.

Lance spent a good amount of time teaching her spells. Back at the hanger though, a large alert had just gone off. "EVERYONE, TO THE MEETING ROOM QUICKLY," said John over the speaker system, addressing Lee and Co. "_Lance," _said John, "_Level one emergency, teleport straight into the base, I will open the tele-barrier for a short time."_ The connection then was cut off. "Miranda, I have to go now, no time to explain, its an emergency." "Can I help?" she said. "Not as you are now, but maybe in the future." Lance then disappeared on spot leaving Miranda alone. He reappeared right in the meeting room where everyone was waiting. "Good, you're here," said John. "Okay, right to the point," he said, touching a button on the table. The monitor then showed a large-scale map of Japan along with the surrounding ocean. There was a large bleeping red dot in the ocean part of the map. "A Saren stone, right?" said Chrono. "Partially, it is actually ten Saren stones to be exact." "TEN STONES, TEN STONES, YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING, HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?" said Lance. "SETTLE DOWN, SETTLE DOWN!" said John, "this is a crisis, if they all activated, it would mean a Dimensional Shift of large proportions. The other mage, Fate is responsible for this. She is there but exhausted, she had put out a large-scale magic pulse to find all the stones. Right now, the stones are just creating a storm around the area, but they will cause a shift if we don't act fast so I've called in reinforcements for this one, the whole nine yards, their waiting for you in the teleport bay."

They all got up and ran to the teleport room that had just been finished and in there, they saw Sora, Garret, Matt, Rachel, Louise, and to their surprise, Amy. "You will all head out immediately to the site. Lance and Amy, you will be the barrier guards, sealing off the area. Lee, Nanoha, Sora, and Garret you will seal the seeds, that means two of you have to do 3 at once and the other two have to do 2 at once. Next are Sarah, Sakura, Chrono, and Matt, you will go to apprehend the lightning mage, use caution and try not to bang her up to badly but use force if necessary. Finally, Rachel and Louise, You two have been found to have exceptional healing abilities so you'll be waiting to heal anyone who gets injured. Okay that's it, move out!"

They all got on the teleport pad and they were immediately teleported over the ocean. They gained control and started flying towards the storm. Lance and Amy put a barrier field around their party to protect them as they went through the storm. They arrived at the eye of the storm, and they saw all ten of the Saren stones floating in mid-air. Also, Fate was there, trying hopelessly to seal them all one after another, failing and almost fainting, it was almost too sad to watch. They all immediately went to their positions. Amy and Lance made a double barrier around the entire area of the storm. Chrono and his faction went into combat with Fate, who even drained, was still stronger them all of them, and Lee and the sealing team went to seal the stones.

"Okay, all at once, the timing has to be perfect," said Lee as everyone prepared. "Multiple stone sealing," they all said in unison. "Stone numbers acknowledged," said each of their devices in similar harmony. "SAREN STONE'S, SEAL." "SEALING." They each shot multiple rays of light at the stones. Nanoha and Lee took three a piece while Garret and Sora took two at once. They failed as their rays just bounced off them. "Damn, there is a pretty good shield here. This is going to be harder than I thought," said Garret. He pointed his staff at it and said, "**ANCIENT SIGNET Level 3, SIGNS OF HAPPINESS."** He shot a large blast of silver energy at the barrier and it barley pierced it, but the hole it made was soon repaired. "Damn, it self-regenerative," said Garret, frustrated. They continued to attack it multiple times, trying to pierce the barrier.

Chrono and the attack group were attacking Fate head on. Chrono shot his **BLUE INFERNO CANNON** at her, who retaliated with a **THUNDER SMASHER**. Then she used **PHOTON LANCER, PHANLAX SHIFT **to attack them all at once. She reputedly did this to keep them at bay. "Okay, over drive time. **OBS Driver, Ignite!"** Suddenly his staff changed from normal into its striker form. It's head assumed the form of a weird spearhead that came out of a golden body with fins all over. "**IGNITION BLADE,"** he said instinctively. Suddenly, the flaming red point came out of the double-pronged head. Then he aimed it at Fate, "FIRE," He shot the flaming spear tip off, it shot through the air spiraling, leaving magic entrails as it shot through the air. Fate put up a shield to block it but when it hit, the resulting huge explosion was too much for her shield to handle and it shattered, blasting her through the air.

Now Sakura was up. She had been giving long-range support for the battle. "**HPS Driver, ACTIVATE!"** Suddenly, her staff changed into its sniper mode with a tip coming out of a barrel and with four prongs going around it. "**CRIMSON FURY BUSTER, SNIPER EXTENTION."** She closed her eyes, and then with her magic, locked onto Fate, aiming her staff magically as she did. "SHOOT!" She shot her buster attack. Not only was it given a boost from being used in sniper form, but it's accuracy was heightened even more. Fate never expected an attack of that magnitude to be able to be accurately shot from that distance and was caught totally off guard as it hit her, blasting her even farther back.

Then it was Matt and Sarah's turn. They did a collaborative attack. "**NET CAPTURE,"** said Matt, shooting a medium blast of magic at Fate. It turned into a net on contact and completely bound her. "**MEGALOMAX"** said Matt; four green spheres appeared in front of him, "SHOOT!" Each sphere shot out a medium buster attack at Fate that made direct contact. While Matt had kept her attention, Sarah had been preparing for her attack. "MATT, MOVE!" Matt teleported out of the way as Sarah said, "**DESTINY BREAKER!!!"** She shot her breaker straight at Fate, where it made a nice impact. Fate was falling though the air. She caught herself and started her retaliation.

Back at the Sealing team, they were still having no luck getting through the barrier. "Damn, we would need at least another sealing mage to pull this off. We have to make a hole wide enough to at least get the magic to hit them, and were already pushing our luck by doing more than one at a time and they have to be sealed all at once." Garret was frustrated out of his mind. Lee had tried his breaker to no avail, the same held true for Nanoha, who was having trouble with her breaker.

Suddenly, the stones started to glow and a black circle appeared vertically above them. In the center, a large black sphere was charging up. But it wasn't aimed at them; it was aimed at the group battling with Fate. "LOOK OUT!" said Lee but he was too late, it fired and hit all four of them as the fell to the ground. Rachel and Louise were already on it though. They made a solid magic circle and used magic to make them all land softly on it. There, they used their magic to heal the injured but between the two of them and the four people, there was just enough power to bring them back to consciousness, but not nearly enough for them to go back to battle. "We need to get them back quickly!" said Rachel, "They need treatment." " _Hey Rachel,"_ said Lance through telepathy, "_Bring them over here to the green magic circle, it has pre registered coordinates for the base teleport room. Just place them on and they will teleport."_ They did and Rachel said, "**MOVING PLATFORM."**__Suddenly, The magic circle they were all on started to move. Rachel made it head for the green circle near Lance's position. When it got there, Louise levitated each person onto the green circle. Though they had returned to being conscious, they had gone under again after a little bit. After they were all on the green circle, Lance made it teleport. Then a screen appeared in front of Lance with a message from John that they have arrived safely. Rachel and Louise then went back to their positions to prepare for another round of injured if needed.

Now Fate was out of battle, she flew over to where the sealing team was and then engaged them in combat. She first got to Sora, who attacked her. Then Garret flew over to assist him, followed by Lee and Nanoha until it became a four on one. Fate was completely outmatched but that didn't stop her from attacking relentlessly. She fired her **PLASMA SMASHER** at the group after teleporting a few yards away, hitting all of them with the same attack. Then Lee shot a **BLITZ SHOT** at Fate, then changed his staff into it's sword form and went into close melee combat with Fate, who had changed her staff into its HAWKEN mode. She was also at the same time firing multiple pre made shots at the other three, making them keep their distance.

Then the second round came, the Saren stones black circle reappeared and this time, there was an even bigger black sphere of magic. Then it aimed it at all of them. Suddenly, the blast got a lot bigger. The power it was emanating was huge. The storm that had been created by the stones that surrounded them got a lot more vicious. Then it fired its attack, shooting at all of them at once, including Fate. They each put up shields to block it, but to no avail. It went straight through the shields and hit them all. They all fell through the air. Rachel and Louise were already at the scene with their magic, making them all safely land on the circle. Due to the spells area of effect, Fate was also lowered. She got up immediately though and flew off. Then Lee woke up and went after her. The other three however were out stone cold and probably were not going to wake up any time soon. Rachel and Louise, though exhausted did there best to revive them.

Fate then started battering the shield the stones had put up. Then a blast of gold light passed within inches of her head. She traced it back to Lee who was not far from her. "Why do you try so hard?" said Lee, "Why put all this effort in and risk your life. Do you think that is what your important person wants', for you to die or else get injured?" Fate then turned her head, and Lee saw her hateful, scary impression. But behind the anger, there was still that looming sadness hidden in her eyes. "What do you know? Who are you to judge? I WILL MAKE THIS PERSON HAPPY, EVEN AT THE COST OF MY LIFE!" She then shot a barrage of blasts at him. "Then can you please explain to me why? Tell me and maybe I can understand."

Suddenly, Haruno popped out of nowhere on Lee's shoulder and yelled at Fate, "Yeah, Lee's right. If you're going to fight us, then please give us an explanation. You never know, we might be able to help." Fate's anger subsided a little as she looked at the mini Haruno and said, "Who is that?" Lee looked and said, "This is my device. Her Name's Haruno but that is off topic, just please give us an explanation." Fate's anger had been subdued by the interruption. "Okay, but first, we need to take care of this before it gets out of hand." "Yeah, we do," said Lee in agreement.

By this time, everyone except Lee, Lance and Amy were back at the base in the infirmary being treated. After healing the second group, Rachel and Louise collapsed from magic exhaustion from overuse and had fainted. Lance had caught them just in time and John came to teleport them all to the base. They were now all sitting up in their beds or for the visitors, on chairs and watching a large screen, which was broadcasting the battle. Due to the storm though, they could only get video feed, audio was out of the question with all the static in the air from lightning. They were all glued to it as they watched what would happen next.

"Okay, together, and we each take half, Okay?" said Lee to Fate. "Agreed." Suddenly, Fate said, "**RECOVERY"** and all her bruises disappeared. Then Lee said, "Haruno." She understood and the she disappeared. Then the staff said, "**POWER CHARGE,"** and a golden orb of magic appeared out of the staff. Then it floated into BARADICHE and it said, "charge complete." "Ready?" said Lee, "Ready," said Fate.

They each pointed their staffs at the stones. Suddenly Lee had and thought. Lee changed his staff into shooting mode, and then Fate changed hers into ZAMBER mode. Then each started charging their attack. Then Lee said to Fate, "Do you trust me?" She looked over, she was silent for a second, but then said, "Yes, I do." Lee then focused hard on what he had to do. They both charged their attacks up to the maximum, each one the size of a house. Then Lee focused in hard on it. Suddenly, not jut his but Fates sphere of magic started floating into the air. Fate knew what was going to happen next. They both started to spin around each other and then they fused into one giant orb. "**PURE LIGHT BREAKER and PLASMA ZAMBER BREAKER FINAL COMBINATION type 2, SHARED COMBINATION ATTACK, ****THUNDER SEAL **_**BREAKER!!!!!" **_Suddenly, the sphere of magic shot down in a giant blast of lightning like golden energy. It left a trail of electricity and static as it passed, electrifying the air. It hit the barrier and blasted straight through it. It then hit all the stones and Lee and Fate said in unison, "MULTI SEAL, SAREN STONES 3-13." Their devices then said in unison, "ALL STONES LOCKED ON, SEAL NUMBERS 3-13." Both at once then said, "SEAL!!!" and the breaker blasted into them, creating a huge explosion.

Back at the base, John watched amazed as the status of all ten stones became sealed at the exact same time. "By god," he said looking at the monitor. The rest of them were also glued to the screen at the amazing sight if the combination of Lee and Fate. Even John or any of them couldn't grasp the idea of two people sealing ten stones at once. It was unfathomable, even for the highest-level mages. They looked on as they saw the smoke clear from the explosion.

When the smoke cleared, it was a sight to behold. There was a huge crater in the middle of the ocean that was so big, the water had not yet covered it up and was rushing into it rapidly. Then they saw the Saren stones, all ten of them. Half of them were glowing golden and the other half had a yellow glow. The ones with a golden glow headed over towards Lee and the yellow glowing ones headed to Fate. Haruno absorbed Lee's share and Baradiche Fate's share. Then both blinked to confirm absorption. Lee then flew over to Fate and said, "We did it, nothings left." Fate, for the first time Lee had ever seen, truly smiled and said, "Yeah, thanks to you." They then both looked at each other and Fate said, "But next time we see each other, it will be in battle, and to be honest, I will be looking forward to it." Lee then said, "Yeah, me too."

Suddenly, a hole of purple light opened in the sky as Fate floated away. She looked up and her face went from happy to terrified. "No," she said, "Mother, why?" Suddenly, a huge Purple lightning bolt appeared from the hole and hit Fate directly. She was almost elasticized, then a blast of purple energy shot out from the hole and hit Fate and made a blinding flash. When the flash died down, Fate was gone. Lee couldn't even feel her magic.

Suddenly, Lee felt faint and started to fall. He had just enough magic left to level himself for a teleport and he teleported straight into the medical bay in the base, where he collapsed in front of everyone. His dad walked over and carried him to a cot and laid him down. Then using his magic, John used a healing spell until Lee regained consciousness. It took John almost a half hour of complete healing magic to do it to. Lee had an exceptional magical capacity, even when compared to his dad.

Lee woke up to find that his father, mother, Lance, Haruno and Amy were all hovering over him. He sat up and said, "Ah, What time is it?" Haruno answered, "About 6 at night, you've only been sleeping for about 2 or 3 hours, nothing significant." She then gave him her generic hug and then used some type of healing magic to revive Lee's energy and so he felt good as he got out of bed. "And how about everyone else," he said, stretching out his sore limbs. "There all fine, but none of them have your endurance, their all still out cold, mind you, they are out due to battle damage, not magical exhaustion so it will probably take a little while longer. I've already contacted Sakura and Chrono's parents to say they will be sleeping over at our house again. By the way, to keep this charade up, you should sleep over at their house once in a while otherwise it will look suspicious. Especially if the only house out of the three they stay at is the only non-mansion one. Not to discredit our home but by comparison, it just doesn't add up."

Lee waited for about an hour and some of Lances healing magic to speed up the recovery until his friends awoke. They all woke up around the same time, which was around 7:15 at night. They then got up and they all sat at the couches in the lounge area of the infirmary. "So what happened after we went down?" said Sora. "Well," said Lee. For the next half an hour, Lee explained what happened with a visual aid of the battle footage playing on a large monitor behind him down to where Fate vanished from the blast of purple magic. "And when the purple hole in the sky first appeared she said, "No…Mother…" Then she was hit by lightning, then the purple blast came and created a powerful flash and when it died down, she was gone." Everyone, as Lee also suspected, thought that this was abnormal, people don't usually disappear like that.

Then one of John's workers came in and handed him a tablet with some info John requested be looked into. "Thank you you're dismissed." They saluted, then walked out. "Okay, if Lee, Sakura, Chrono, Nanoha, Lance and Sarah please come with me. The rest of you can come as well if you want. Were going to the briefing room." Sora declined saying he had to get back to collage. He had only gotten a pass for the day and needed to be back in about an hour. He had to go get his car from the parking garage he had left it in near his college so he departed immediately. As for the Johnson's, they said that they had to go home as well; none of them had dinner yet. So they all left as well. Mary left to go make dinner.

They headed to the briefing room and sat down. Then John put the tablet down on the table and connected it to everyone's monitor. "Okay, we have new information you all need to hear," he said. Everyone's monitor turned on. The picture of a woman in a purple full body mage cloak with a purple-shafted staff with a circle at the to, in the middle of the head, there was a triangle with a ruby eye in the center. "This is Presia Tesstorosa. She was the head authority on the artificial mage project. The purpose of this project was to make a man-made humanoid mage clone to send out instead of sending real people into harms way. She was also the head of the Energy wave project. I bet you two remember that." He looked at Lance and Nanoha whose expressions changed at the mention of the incident. "Continuing, she was planning to combine the two. You see, she was able to, as far as we know, invent a body and all the physical parts, including the realistic organs, but she never knew how to give it a mage like power supply or Linker core. No mage can make one, but if the energy wave project succeeded, she could of made one based off that research, no doubt. But something went wrong with that project. Not many people know this, it is actually top-secret information but the terrorist group that attacked the facility was actually doing it under pay for, which we traced it to, Presia Tesstorosa. You see, she was going to be taken off the project to develop magical weapons and that didn't fit well with her and her research so she tried to steal it.

Due to the enormity of the incident, she was put on trial and sentence to lifetime imprisonment. Unfortunately, she escaped during transport to the prison planet, GRAND HEROGE. The cells there are reserved for only the very worst criminals. It is severed from every other dimension completely except for one opening. A single 10 by 10-square opening somewhere near its northern pole. It is also a one way activated portal, only able to be opened and closed from the T.S.B.A. side. After she escaped, we never found her or even heard word of here ever again, but when that purple lightning bolt came down, the ships censor analyzed it and her file popped up, but there was only a 55% matching ratio."

Everyone looked over the file, and then John continued, "There is also one more significant clue that it's her." John then pressed a button to bring up another picture. Lee, along with everyone else was shocked when a picture of Fate came up, but instead of the name Fate, it said Alicia. "This was Presia's one and only known child, her daughter Alicia." Lee then interjected, "Does this mean that Fate's real name is Alicia and that this Presia is her mother?" "No and Yes. I am positive that Fate and Alicia are two different people. You see, Alicia died in the Energy Wave incident, she was in the lab at the time the terrorists attacked and not knowing she was their bosses daughter, killed her for being in the way. But I do think that Fate is Presia's daughter. I am going to take a guess by how much they look alike that due to the death of her only daughter, Presia fell into despair and when she, as I am sure she did, finally completed her Artificial mage project, she modeled it after her daughter in remembrance and that is who Fate is."

Everyone just stood there opened mouthed at this new information. "Okay, that's all for today, I want to give you all some time to think about it. Now you have been all working hard for a while now so I am putting everyone off duty for a while. For the mean time, live normal lives, be teens, go to school, don't worry about this stuff but we will notify you if something happens." They all then walked out, thinking about what he had said.

Lee decided to take a walk, to think over what he had just learned. While he was walking through the park, Haruno suddenly popped out from the blue jewel on his neck and appeared next to him. "So is that conversation on your mind?" she said. "Yeah, its a lot for one person to digest all at once." "Well, is it going to effect how you feel at all?" "It's not that, its just I just learned a bit about Fate, which I have been trying to do for a while and now I am trying to decide what to do next." "Well," said Haruno, "I think you should do what you told her. You said the next time you met, you would have a battle and that is what you should do. If you want to convey your feelings, do it with your magic and your heart and I am sure your feelings will get through." Lee then started to walk home, now with a resolution to his thoughts.


	36. Triple Threat: The Choice is Made

The Haruno Chronicles

Ch. 36 Finally, The Last of the stones but as it goes, you save the best for last. First a teacher, than a Norse God of death, Miranda is battling it all until who else but Lee steps up to the plate. But Lee even surprises himself, and the entire school, his dad, Miranda or anyone watching for that matter with a brand new power so secret, he didn't even know it existed.

Disclaimer: Everything, material, characters, locations ect… are property of the respective people.

Chapter 36 – Triple Threat, the Choice is made

They were all told to spend some time away from all the fighting and stuff. Andy had been called on another assignment so he had left. It really wasn't much of a difference with him there or not; he was invisible as far as anyone could tell. Lee and company just spent the next week doing what they had done before they had started fighting and magic and all of that. They hung out, talked, went to school ect… The only one who still had the same routine was Lance, who had been going over to Miranda's house to continue her training.

She had improved vastly over the past few days. She had learned how to transform, use spells, fly and some other things. She still couldn't quite do a half-release yet but that took time. She learned about some powers she had even if she wasn't transformed. She learned how to use spells without transforming as well. She even learned how to teleport and heal. She also was good in transformation and support magic. The only thing she lacked completely was close combat and wide area. But she wasn't a sniper like Sakura. She was best in the middle range, making her a central mage, whose powers worked best from an immediate distance, causing massive damage per blow but not rapid. They were the one hit KO types. Though for all her training, she still didn't have a clue of what she really was. Lance was still keeping the _spiritual_ charade going on.

Lee went to school on Friday like any normal day. He went to class and did work. Ate lunch and then went to Kendo practice. To Lee though, something was missing. Even though he had had it for only a few months, he felt like something was missing. He was already missing daily magic training and battles. Even though he spent most of his time not doing either, he still had the knowledge that he was going to do it later. But now, he knew he wasn't going to train. He felt like his magic was going to go rusty. The others (not including Lance) had similar feelings. They too were feeling empty. Lee was starting to want to train very badly.

When Lee got to Kendo practice, his training urge had overtaken him. Even though it wasn't magic training, any training would help him right now. He put on his outfit and then went to the space Drew had let out for them, "Ready Lee," said Drew. "More than you'll ever know," replied Lee, now already anxious to start. "Aren't you going to take off your weights or let out some Ki?" said Drew confused. "Not Today, I need a good workout today." They started and instead of Lee going normal like normal, he went full out, but he had the weights on. He released just enough Ki so he had some to use. He went into a flurry of fast swipes, which Drew countered, with slashes of his own. The battle grew more and more intense as time passed. It was a very long battle. Eventually, everyone in the Kendo club was watching. They all watched in amazement at the display these two were putting on. This was the first time Lee had gone all out against Drew before. Even though he had all the restraints on, Drew was still having a hard time. He still didn't understand how Lee was so good with all his weights on.

The battle progressed for almost the entire practice. Except for ZERO TENSHI, Lee was pulling out all his moves. Drew butted head to head for each move Lee threw at him. But Drew could sense the desire to fight in Lee right now so he released all of his Ki and took off all of his weights. "This should satisfy you as you are now." He ran towards Lee, who was ready to counter. With his new speed though, Lee couldn't keep up with his weights on. Drew hit Lee directly in the chest, but Lee managed to give a counter hit to the back of Drew's neck. Then Lee charged at Drew and attacked. This went on until about 5 minutes before practice ended. They needed to leave but hadn't finished so they called it a draw until they could fight again on Monday. Lee left the dojo after changing, said good bye to Chrono and left for home.

He ate dinner and did his Homework. He had a lot of it so he needed to start tonight. Haruno helped him and kept him company until bedtime. Lee went to sleep early, thinking about when his next fight would be. He was starting to get restless. He also wondered when the next and last 3 Saren stones would be found. Would he get them, or would Fate. He had also been wondering about Fate recently, about her and her relationship. Lee knew now that the person Fate wanted to make happy above all else was her mother. But there were two things that bugged Lee. One was why did she try so hard for someone who would shoot lightning at her without a second thought and why she tried for someone who wasn't even her own real mother. He wondered about them until he fell asleep.

The next day, Lee and the rest were actually going with Lance to see how Miranda's progress was going. Sakura would make an anti-detection barrier around them that hid their appearance and their magic so it would appear as if they weren't there at all. They flew into the sky while Lance landed on the ground. "Miranda," he said and she appeared from a doorway. "Your here early," said Miranda. "I wasn't expecting you till around 3?" Lance replied, "Well I had some extra time, but if I am unconvincing you, I can come back later." Miranda then hastily said, "No, No, its alright, I'm happy you are even training me at all. Sorry for any disrespect." "Don't worry about it," said Lee. Up in the sky, everyone was silently laughing. "At least she knows how to respect people," said Sarah.

They watched as Miranda practiced her magic. It was like a show to them where they were the unknown judges. She was pretty good for someone who had only really used magic for about two weeks. She had gotten all the basics down. Everyone was impressed, seeing as it had taken some of them longer than this to get all of what she had learned down. She was already stronger than most of them when they had discovered her magic. She was at about a S+ mage rank. Lance had told them that she could be a real prodigy like Lee. They watched and took in her training for almost two hours. When Lance was done, they all teleported to Chrono's house for a change of pace and the fact they were still technically off duty; there, they went to his room and sat down on the rug.

"So what do you guys think of her training so far? The only thing she has a bit of trouble with is the half-release and she is already working on that. Her stats are pretty good too, I used the ships computer to do a scan." Everyone then talked for a bit about what they observed and what they should do. The choices were to either tell her what she really was or to let her be oblivious and lead a normal life. Then Lee said, "You said that she couldn't do a half-release perfectly yet Lance?" "Yes, but she is close." Lee then said, "Then here is what we should do. When she gets that down to perfection, we let her in on all of the information we have and hopefully she will join us. If not," Lee turned to Lance, "You will erase her memory of us telling her everything completely." Everyone thought this was a good idea; this way didn't jeopardize their identities.

Just then a screen appeared in front of them all and John's face appeared. "Sorry for interrupting, but you are all, even though listed as off duty, temporary special officers of the TSAB. There is a code to follow for this situation as well. If she refuses, then I will have no choice but to erase her memory of and seal her magic as well. Trust me, I don't want to but that is regulation. Sorry, have to go, sorry for interrupting, bye." The screen then disappeared. They were all both surprised by the sudden interruption and the abrupt exit and even more than that, the message. "Isn't sealing and erasing her memory of magic going a little over board?" asked Sarah. "I agree, it sounds to harsh a rule," said Sakura. "Yes," said Lance, "But it has some good reasoning behind it. This prevents those who don't side with the TSAB to not be able to go against it, thereby maintaining peace and order." They all thought about it for a few minutes, then Nanoha said, "I say we should still tell her. I am sure she will agree." They all talked for a bit more and then they came to the universal decision to go with Lee's original plan. They all left to go home and think about this.

Sunday passed very quickly. They didn't meet that day. Lee did the rest of his large workload. The other also did their homework and Monday was upon them in a flash. On Monday morning, Lee already knew the day would be different. He had caught the bus without rushing or anything and the bus wasn't late or anything. He went to school with his friends and walked into Homeroom. They were discussing what they should do for the school fair coming up. Lee wasn't paying attention much today though. He was preoccupied with something. He didn't know what but he had a weird feeling about today. Something was off he could feel it. Something big was going to happen.

Next was history with devil Nora. To everyone's surprise, they had a NORMAL class. Nora didn't pick on Lee or any of the boys once. This confirmed Lee's suspicion. There was no way Nora would ever be that nice unless something forced her too. They all met, though no one told them to, on the top of the roof, as high and secluded as possible. Lee started off, "Do any of you feel weird today, like something is about to go down and were right in the middle of it or something?" "Yeah," said Chrono. "I think we all do," said Nanoha.

Just then, John came rocketing out of the sky, "Thank goodness your all safe," he said exuberantly. "What's going on," said Sarah, coming from the sky as well from the middle school. "It's big and it's here!" said John. "The scanner at the base is going haywire with readings in this general area. Magic is flowing like crazy. We have picked up a HUGE Saren stone reading as well, three times bigger than the biggest reading. This area has been put on high guard. I'll take care of the details you guys patrol the area. Putting up a space barrier is also impossible along with teleportation due to the magic flowing in the area. We can make a physical barrier but that won't remove the people inside. We'll erase their memories later; I already have a squad working on it. I have to go straight to headquarters; I've been summoned so I can't be here with you. Be extremely careful." With that, he flew away, and then far in the distance, disappeared.

"Everyone, split up, cover everywhere," said Lee, "Sakura go with Sarah to the middle school side, I'll tell Lance to meet you over there. If you see anything, notify the group, now lets go." Every hurried and went to their posts. Right now, everyone was outside playing during the one hour lunch period. Lee went to the open courtyard where practically everyone was. It was a nice day so even the teachers were eating outside. Just then, Lee ran into Miranda who was walking towards him. "Sorry," said Lee. "No, No, it was my fault." Then she said, "Could you come with me for a second. I need to tell someone and you're the only one who knows about _that._"

She then dragged Lee to a secluded corner of the courtyard. "Sorry, but I need to tell someone." Lee already had a faint idea of what it was but pretended he didn't. "What is it," said Lee. "Well, I've had this feeling since I've come to school today, a very weird feeling. Like there is some dark presence right near me but I can't find it. But I know it's big and it's close. To be perfectly honest, I am very scared and I don't know why." "Well, that's very unusual," said Lee. "Yeah, I probably sound crazy but thanks for listening. I feel a little better now. Tell me, okay?" Lee agreed to tell her if he saw anything.

Lee spent the next 20 minutes walking around and nothing happened. Then he saw something a bit strange. No one else seemed to notice but there was one extra teacher as far as Lee could tell. Including all the staff, there was 52 staff members but Lee counted and recounted and there were definitely 53. He went through them all to try a see which one was the one he didn't recognize. Then he saw him. A man, probably in his mid 20's, about 6 ft with brown hair. Lee defiantly knew that the youngest male member of the staff was Mr. Kenton and he looked younger than him. Then he saw him walk forward to two students who were arguing. "Hey you two, you shouldn't fight," he said. They looked up at him and from their expressions they didn't recognize him either.

Lee had a bad feeling and he kept an eye on this unknown teacher. Then to Lee's surprise, he came over and said, "Hello, I'm Tom Heri, I am currently applying for a job here, nice to meet you." Lee then said, "Oh, well hello Mr. Heri." Then he walked past him and Lee then heard him say quietly, "All you know is at an end." Lee stood frozen to the spot as he passed. Then he put two and two together very quickly and turned around but he was two late. He raised his palm and shot a blast of Black magic into the middle of the courtyard. Everyone was taken by surprise but no one was hurt. Everyone was shocked by the explosion and turned around to look for the cause. They found the teacher, staring and laughing. Then the principle cam over and said, "Sir, I know you are not part of our faculty, please leave or I will have to call the authorities." He just laughed and then sent the principle flying into a wall, knocking him unconscious. Miranda had already rushed forward but was stopped by Drew, "I'll handle this."

Drew went forward with a Ki sword and attacked Mr. Heri. But Mr. Heri then sent a blast of magic his way, also blasting Drew, knocking him unconscious. "Everyone stand back," shouted Miranda. They didn't know what Miranda was doing but did what she asked anyway. "Show yourself, demon." Mr. Heri chuckled and a dark aura then popped up around him. His skin turned tan and he spouted small horns out of his head. He then shot a blast of magic at Miranda. "Look out," said one of the students. Miranda, to everyone's surprise made a shield of magic out of nowhere. "You'll need to do better than that." She then sent a blast of magic his way, but he deflected it with his hand. She then transformed to everyone's astonishment.

Miranda then went into battle with Mr. Heri. To everyone's shock, the battle soon went to the skies. While they were battling, Lee and co. was watching from the crowd. They had decided to let Miranda fight so they wouldn't have to reveal themselves but would step in at the first sign of trouble. Miranda was shooting spell after spell at Mr. Heri but he blocked or dodged them all. What was worse was after each attack; he sent one twice as strong at Miranda. She blocked most of them but some of them got through. She was blasted to the ground. "**DROP SHOT,"** she said, raising her staff. A white circle of magic appeared over Mr. Heri and a column of magic shot straight out of it, hitting Mr. Heri directly and blasting him to the ground as well.

Miranda then shot her **TRINITY BLAST **straight at it and made a solid contact. Then she shot her **CROSS BLASTERS, **at it. It created a huge white cross in front of Miranda and at each of the four tips; it created a sphere of charged magic at each of the four tips. "**GO!"** Each of the spheres fired a blast of magic much larger than her normal attacks. Mr. Heri was caught off guard and got blasted several feet into the air. "Looks like the little girl can play," he said. "But can you take this?" He then raised his hand up into the air and a large sphere of black magic appeared. Then it started to grow. It grew until it was as big as the average car. "**DOOM SPIRE."** He shot the blast of magic right at Miranda but it was slow and she dodged it right away and it went into the ground. "Ha, nice aim." But instead of being disappointed, Mr. Heri laughed and said, "You'll see." Then out of nowhere, a huge powerful column of black magic erupted out of the ground, blasting Miranda into the air. Then using some type of speed enhancement, he speed over to where Miranda was heading in the air and said as his fist turned dark, "**BLACK IMPACT."**__He hit Miranda as she was coming up and the explosion from the attack sent her shooting to the ground, creating a crater from the impact.

The rest of the school watched on in a mixture of fright, awe and surprise, not to mention confusion. They didn't know what was really happening but they knew that Miranda was good and Mr. Heri was not and that Miranda was losing. The teachers couldn't do anything but keep the students back. Even they were horrified at the slaughter fest that was now happening before them. Mr. Heri was now blasting Miranda with small blasts of magic. Not enough to cause serious damage but enough to be excruciatingly painful. She screamed out in pain after each one. It was obvious that he was just playing with her. "Guess its time." Mr. Heri flew into the air and started to charge up a huge breaker class attack.

Lee knew that now was the time to step in and ran from the crowd just before Mr. Heri fired and stood in between Miranda and the blast of magic. "What do you think your doing?" said Miranda, "your going to get killed." Mr. Heri looked down at Lee and smiled, saying, "The more the merrier." The crowd thought Lee was nuts, going unarmed against something like this. "Good by," said Mr. Heri. He shot the breaker right at them. It was big, really big, enough to cover the entire crowd. "Not if I can help it," said Miranda and she put up a barrier to protect everyone but it went through it. It headed straight for Lee. "NO, LOOK OUT LEE!" said Miranda frantically. Then Lee raised his palm. A giant golden round shield appeared before him. It was big enough to cover the whole crowd and when the breaker hit this one, it didn't get through. It exploded on contact to everyone's surprise, especially some of the older faculty who had already resigned themselves to die during those short few moments.

"Lee?" said Miranda in utter amazement, "How? Why?" "Not now," said Lee, "I'll tell you later but for now, stay back, you've done more than enough." Miranda was surprised, but got herself together quickly and said, "There's no way you can take that on by yourself?" Lee smiled, "I'm not by myself, we have a whole unit here but to the contrary, I could handle this by myself, I've fought worse." Lee then said, "HARUNO, SET UP!" He threw his blue marble up into the air and it glowed for a second. Then there was a flash of light and Lee reappeared, transformed into his barrier jacket and holding his staff. Everyone took this as a sign and Nanoha, Sarah, Sakura and Chrono came forward and to the crowd's utter shock, transformed too and walked forward. "How many of them are there," said someone.

"Everyone," Lee said, addressing his friends, "Leave it to me unless it gets iffy." Lee then flew into the air and as he did, Lance flew past him. He landed next to Miranda and did a quick job healing her wounds. Then told her, "watch closely and you will learn what it means to fight." Miranda was confused at this but turned her head to watch. She looked up as Lee flew upwards to meet Mr. Heri in the sky. The crowd looked on in shock as Lee ascended into the sky. Drew had woken up by now and he was looking on in awe. Everyone else surrounded the area. Lance and Sakura made a barrier around the crowd to protect them, Sarah went to Miranda to finish healing her up and Chrono was in the air, waiting in case Lee needed back up.

Lee was now level with Mr. Heri. "Try fighting me." Mr. Heri laughed and shot a bunch of blasts at Lee. Miranda was afraid they were going to hit Lee, as they were multiple times as strong as the ones he fired at her, but to her surprise, Lee just deflected them all effortlessly. Then he did something that really surprised her. "Now it's my turn. **FLASH SHIFT, GENOCIDE SHIFT."** Suddenly, the sky was full of 1000's of spheres of golden light. The sheer number of them surprised even Mr. Heri. Lee then sent them in droves of ten at Mr. Heri one after another. Mr. Heri dodged most of them but was getting hit every so often. Then Lee said, "**360 DEGREE ASSULT!"** Suddenly, all of the remaining spheres of magic gathered in a sphere around Mr. Heri until there wasn't an open spot left. Lee then swung his staff down and all at once, the blasts shot inwards at Mr. Heri from all directions. There was a huge explosion and a flash of light.

Mr. Heri had put up a shield around him that covered him from all angles, but it was cracked. Mr. Heri though was unharmed as he flew high above Lee. He made a pure black sword appear out of nowhere. Lee responded by turning his staff into a sword of his own. Then Lee shot up and Mr. Heri shot down. The resulting explosion created a shockwave that shattered the schools windows. Lee then teleported right behind him and thrust the sword into Mr. Heri. Unfortunately, he regenerated as soon as Lee pulled the sword out. Lee then flew away quickly and sent some slashes through mid-air at him with the same result of Mr. Heri displaying his regenerative powers.

"Damn it," said Miranda as Sarah healed her, "I told you guys, He is to strong for one person to defeat and Now Lee's getting hurt." Lance looked at her but it wasn't with sadness, but more with a deep understanding, "Look closely at Lee's position versus Mr. Heri's and maybe you will understand." She looked up at the battle. Mr. Heri was almost overhead and Lee was higher in the sky somewhere a bit away. Then Miranda, looking at Lee' direction understood. Lance then continued, "So you get it now. Lee has plenty of power, but if he fired from there, it would hit us for sure and Lee doesn't have enough confidence in his ability to hit Mr. Heri. He doesn't want to hurt anyone and that is why he is holding back. He is trying to lure him away. More than Likely Mr. Heri is aware of all of this and is purposely using us as his shield." Miranda looked at Lee with admiration. She could already tell how powerful a person Lee was without gauging his magic.

Lee was currently in high-speed close combat with Mr. Heri. Suddenly, Mr. Heri backed away. "I can see you're not an average opponent." He then continued, "I guess for you I need to go max. Watch closely." He then was surrounded by a sphere of black magic that grew bigger and bigger until it was almost as big as the school, hovering in mid-air. Then there was a flash and when it died down, an extremely weird looking wolf appeared. It was black with some white lines and on the top of its head; there were two locks of hair that shot out floating around. Its ears were on end and it had three tails. "I have taken my final form," said Mr. Heri except his voice sounded deeper and wilder, "I have become a creature told in your culture, the bringer of death. The spectral demon wolf FENRIR." Then the wolf suddenly flew high into the air. "For your defiance, they will pay the price. He then started to charge a breaker aimed at the crowed and Lee's friends. "NO!" said Lee. Just as the Wolf was about to fire it's largest breaker, Lee teleported in front of the entire crowed, hovering several yards in the air, "EVERYONE, GET DOWN!" They all took cover and Lance strengthened his barrier. "HA," said the wolf, "You fell for it, now you will all be incinerated." He charged his huge breaker even more and Lee didn't know why, but he instinctively raised his own staff and charged his own Breaker. They both charged their attacks to the max.

Even though the crowd didn't know what was happening, they could tell that Lee's attack was amazing. Miranda just watched in awe of Lee's strength. Even Lee's friends were a little amazed as usual. Lee and the wolf continued to charge their attacks. Lee was putting as much power into it as he could. He felt the breaker as it gained more power grow. Then it hit the limit, Lee's breaker stopped growing, but it didn't stop increasing in power. It sort of changed. Now the sphere had a golden aura and was blindingly bright. "FINAL AURA!" Lance said to himself in amazement and shock. Everyone ten said mentally, "_What's FINAL AURA?"_ Lance answered, "_When a breaker attack hits a certain level in power, it gains a special ability. Lee's Breaker has just past that limit and now his breaker has one of the abilities called FINAL AURA. This ability allows a breaker to become more concentrated by allowing it to get stronger without getting bigger."_ Now they were all really surprised at Lee. Miranda just watched in amazement at Lee's overwhelming power.

The Wolf responded by making his breaker stronger too. Then Lee said, "Lets see who can take a bigger but kicking." The wolf fired his breaker. "AHH!" The crowd was horrified as their doom shot at them. "**PURE LIGHT **_**BREAKER!!!**_" Lee launched his own breaker and they collided in mid-air sending shockwaves flying everywhere, making windows shatter and making the area look like someone came in with a large sword and cut everyone. The only thing protecting the crowd was Lance and Sakura's barrier. Chrono had to teleport away to not get caught in the collision of breakers. Lee's and the Wolf's breaker seemed to be perfectly evenly matched. Neither one was pushing forward or backward, or moving at all.

"You think that you can stop ME!" said the wolf. Suddenly, a giant magic circle appeared under the wolf and its breaker seemed to multiply in size. Slowly, the black breaker started to push Lee's Breaker back. "Try and stop this!" said the wolf as his breaker pushed Lee's back. Everyone was getting scared as the wolf's breaker slowly crept towards them. Even Lance was more than a bit worried now. Miranda was frightened as she saw the breaker getting closer to Lee. Then a voice came from the crowd. "Is that all your going to aspire too?" yelled Drew, "I thought you were strong. You need to push harder." Then Sarah said, "Lee, You can do this." "Yeah, your Lee, you can't lose," said Chrono. Sakura said, "Do your best." Nanoha said, "Believe." Then the crowd started joining in too. "You can do it Lee." "All the way." "Were counting on you." "You can do it."

Then Lee saw Haruno pop out on his shoulder, "Remember, you need to win, you need to save them." Lee then remembered when he first tried to let out his max power, he hit a limit, then a thought came to him and allowed him to push further, beyond and forward. "THAT'S RIGHT, I NEED TO SAVE THEM!" Lee cried out. "I can't allow you to win." Lee then closed his eyes and thought, deep down about what he wanted to do. He didn't just want to win; he wanted to SAVE them, every single one of them. Then his golden magic circle expanded 3 fold. Then a twister of golden light surrounded Lee and his hair was sort of shot up, as if something was blowing wind upwards. "Haruno, Thank you, now let do this." She smiled and said, "FINAL PERIMITER RELEASE, BYPASS LIMITER." Suddenly, Lee felt a HUGE SURGE OF POWER. "Lee, all of the staff functions have been released, but that means that I can no longer support you. You have to maintain it yourself. Usually, this would make a mage weaker but I think you can do it, surpass what you can achieve with someone else's help, show YOUR POWER, unrestrained!"

Lee felt the difference. It felt like when he wasn't transformed except that he was pouring his power into something before releasing it, like a hose or something. Then Lee realized that if his concentration flickered, the wave would disappear. He felt every part of the wave, the concentration, maintaining it, holding it together; it was exhausting beyond Lee's imagination. He felt his breaker start to weaken, it started coming closer and closer, faster and faster. "Lee, You can do this!" Lee heard the crowd, his friends included, cheering him on and encouraging him. Lee needed to save them; at all costs he must save them.

He turned back to his breaker, now with the cheers and hopes of those he was trying to save. He focused hard but the breaker was slowly creeping towards him. "Lee, remember why you fight." Haruno was now talking to him, "Your resolve is your strength, your will is your resolve, your will Lee. You need but will it and you can do ANYTHING." Lee focused his whole being into the breaker, into his desire. Everyone's hopes were with him. He couldn't lose, no mater what.

Suddenly, the breaker stopped moving towards him. This shocked both Lee and the Wolf, who then said, "makes no difference, I'll still win." He then poured all of his magic into his breaker and it grew two fold. Haruno then said, "That's the way Lee, now do it, you can do it." Just then, Lee's heart seemed to stop for a second. In that moment, he felt like he had left the world, like he didn't have a body, he didn't _feel_ anything. He was flying towards a faint light above him. Then he looked down and he saw the faces of everyone in the crowd, his friends, family and classmates, teachers and other faculty. He saw the faces of all those who were counting on him.

He suddenly returned to reality and suddenly, he felt all of the power built up from the struggle during his out of body experience. Suddenly he understood what to do. It was his job to protect them, losing was no longer an option, he could only win; he MUST WIN. Suddenly, his magic circle grew to triple it's size. Lee started to glow bright gold. He seemed to be giving off an aura and it felt warm, comforting and reassuring. Even those without magic could feel it. It felt like hope. Then Lee's breaker's max power skyrocketed. The earth below him started to shake. A crater started to form directly under where he was a floating, chunk of the ground where flying up, then disintegrating. Then he felt words come to his mouth. "SENKOU KAZE!"

There was a huge flash of gold light that surrounded Lee. It only lasted a second but when he reappeared, he had completely changed his barrier jacket was different. He was now wearing a gold jacket with the Japanese word for "GOD OF FLASH" on his back. He was wearing golden pants and his shoes were gold boots with golden wings of magic at the heels. His hair was now bright gold and he was surrounded with a golden aura that kept sparking little bits of static. And Lee's staff's handle turned gold as well. Lee's power then shot straight through the roof and his breaker grew three times as powerful instantly, then it went up another 3 fold. It tore through the other breaker like it was nothing. It shot through the wolf and shot into space where it exploded. The sky then light up with a bright, warm golden light for a few seconds.

The wolf was consumed by a black sphere of magic which grew smaller and smaller. Then it disappeared showing them all a very weary Mr. Heri. "Damn," he said. Then he tried to fly away in an attempt to escape. But then a golden circle appeared under Lee. Then he kicked off. He launched himself at such a high speed that he disappeared from sight; even from his friend's eyes. Then there was a loud sonic boom, followed by a huge shockwave. Then, only a quarter of a second later, another shockwave and loud boom came from about a hundred yards away as Lee hit Mack 5. It was over in less than a second. Lee changed his staff into a sword whose hilt was gold and whose blade was pure, dazzling white, and flew straight past him with his sword out. "**FLASH END."** First initially cutting him in half, then a huge explosion followed where the sword had made impact, destroying Mr. Heri. Lee then reappeared about 50 yards ahead of where the explosion was. He swung his sword down and changed it back into its normal staff mode. He turned around to find that out of the smoke, THREE Saren stones appeared. Lee just calmly held up his staff up and a giant pulse of golden magic erupted out of it, hitting all the stones. Then he flew over and swung his staff at each of them, each one being absorbed on contact.

He flew to the ground and as he touched down, all of the new armor and the aura disappeared as he changed back into his normal barrier jacket. Haruno appeared on his shoulder and said "Good job, I knew you could do it." Suddenly, Lee's staff glowed blue for a second and Lee knew that Haruno probably was resetting it to normal. Lee felt extremely exhausted but he felt he could retain consciousness for a little while with some effort. He walked over to the crowd where his friends were waiting. Everyone, including the other students rushed over to Lee and congratulated him. "Nice," said Drew. "Your amazing," said another. Lee heard many more complements and remarks before he finally got over to his friends. They came over and congratulated him like there was no tomorrow. Then, a whole bunch of gray magic circle's appeared in the sky along with one gold one. Then suddenly, a whole bunch of mages came out of them, along with John coming from the gold one. The mages then started to clean up all the damage and John came over to Lee and said, "That there was probably your best battle yet. I really got to hand it to you."

Suddenly, a group of mages surrounded all of the civilians and they started to panic. "What do you think your doing," said the principle after being returned to conscious by one of the mages, "Sorry sir, standard procedure. You will all be healed, then you will have your memories erased and you will never remember anything about today. Sorry for the inconvenience." "Now, wait, where do you think you get the right…" He didn't get to finish as all of the civilians were suddenly trapped in a magic dome. "Start the procedure." Four mages surrounded the dome and suddenly started to send pulses of gray magic into it. All the faces of the people inside of it suddenly went blank, as their memories were being taken out and replaced with substitutes that the bureau came up with quickly.

Lee and the others de-transformed. Miranda joined them and changed back as well. At first, the bureau had tried to coup her with the others until she blasted them both thinking they were attacking them all. She was still very confused at what was happening. Many people were flying around, all with powers like hers and using them seemingly effortlessly. She went to the group and asked, "Okay, what in god's name is going on here. There are people flying around everywhere, people changing into wolves, people flying around and you guy's also have powers, I want an explanation." Then she turned to Lance, "And how is it that you all seem to know this messenger of god!" Suddenly, John came over and put his hand on her shoulder to calm her down a bit and said, "All will be explained in time, but for now we need to go, were about to release the barrier and it wouldn't be good if we were all here like this. We replaced all their memories with different ones that say that they are having an early dismissal today. After you all are formally dismissed, come by the base and bring Miranda with you, she has a lot of things that she needs to be told."

John just vanished on the spot and soon, the rest of the mages disappeared, leaving the area just as it was before the fight. They got in the middle of the crowd as to blend in and then they all felt the barrier being dispelled and everyone in the crowd came back to their senses, the blank expressions disappearing from their faces. They had moved the principle to the front as if he was making an announcement and he then started saying, "And so due to the electrical problem with the wires in the cafeteria that poses risks of a fire, we are dismissing you all early so have a good day and stay out of trouble." He then disappeared with the other teachers and everyone started to pile out of the school gates.

Lee and company started to file out as well, Miranda included. Then when they were out of sight of everyone, Lee took his marble out and it changed into Haruno in front of him. "Hello," she said in her innocent tone. Miranda jumped back a bit, not having expected this, as she had never seen it before, then she made a sphere of white magic in her hand and aimed it at Haruno and said, "I thought I sealed you Demon. But I see you want some more." Lee quickly ran over to Miranda and sent a counter pulse of magic into her magic sphere, making it disappear and said, "Don't worry, she is NOT a demon, she is Haruno who is actually my device." Miranda stood there confused for a second and then turned to Lance and said, "You never told me that devices could change into people. Can mine do that?" Lance looked at her and said, "No, in fact devices shouldn't be able to turn into people. Lee's device is actually a legitimate phenomenon. We have no idea why his device can do that why no other device has, were actually researching it." "Oh, well in that case," she turned to Haruno, "I am very sorry then, I had no Idea." Haruno just smiled and said, "Don't worry, you just didn't know and besides, you didn't do any permanent damage so all is good."

They continued walking towards the park. When they got there, they then went to the large white house across the street and entered. "Is this the base?" asked Miranda, "Cool idea for a base but it's sort of empty. I was sort of expecting something, well bigger and with a lot more stuff." "This is just the entrance," said Sakura. They headed to the basement and Miranda then asked, "Is the base in the basement?" "No, it's still just an entrance." Then to her surprised, Lee stuck his hand out into the air and a panel appeared out of nowhere where he placed his hand. Then suddenly, a completely hidden door appeared in front of him. "All aboard," said Lee. Miranda got on, shocked and surprised. The elevator then sped down very quickly, causing Miranda to scream a bit. Then the elevator stopped and the doors opened. "Is this more of what you had in mind," said Chrono. They were on the ground level, right under the ARTIMIS and able to look up and the good twenty or thirty-story ceiling above them. Miranda was just speechless, looking up at the enormous underground building. "And the real kicker is it's now wider than it is tall."

They walked across the hanger part of the base to another elevator that went around the inside of the base. They arrived at the main conference room and they all sat down around the table where John was waiting for them. "Good, you all came," he was looking at Miranda, "Now that were all here, I think we need to tell Miranda the truth." Miranda looked at them all inquisitively. Then Lance, who was sitting next to her turned his chair to face her and said, "Well, to clarify any misunderstandings from this point on Miranda, I am going to tell you that I am NOT a messenger of god or any other religious figure for that matter, I am just a simple mage." Miranda looked surprised when John continued and said, "It's time you really understood your gift and you're past Miranda." She turned to John who flipped a switch to make Miranda's screen turn on and a bunch of images flashed across it. "Miranda, your powers, though exceptional are not gifts from god in the sense you are thinking of. If we are talk about God, he may have influenced you destiny to come across them but your powers are your own. Your power is magic in it's refined state. It's source is the linker core inside your own body and it is something you have had since before you were born, in fact, most of your family has had it, but unlike you, have never fully awakened it. It is not spiritual strength, it is magic and in the grand scheme of things, is not abnormal. About half of the worlds that we know of at the Bureau are mage inhabited planets where magic is a daily occurrence. Though you do have exceptionally strong magic, I'll give that to you."

Miranda just sat there, much more calmly then expected and said, "So if what you say is true, why did you lead me on from the beginning instead of being straight forward. I kind of feel like I was lied to." Lance turned to her again and said, "It s true that it could be called a lie, but we needed to know two things. The first one we knew right away which is if we could trust you, that was obvious but the second one was if you were strong enough and today, you've easily proven that." She looked a little upset but said he understood. Then Miranda asked, "So are there a lot of mages on earth as you said there were many from different worlds?" "No, in fact it is an oddity though your families routes if you backtrack them about 520 years ago are hypothesized to be from a mage planet, but we can never fully confirm that. All we know is that the event 500 years ago where your ancestor beat those demons was actually a magical occurrence due to a lab mistake from Machida, the head of the magical world. We sent a mage to deal with it but he couldn't do it alone so he found a magically aware person, your ancestor and gave her his device, REN to help him with. With her phenomenal power, she destroyed the creatures and as a thank you, let her keep that device. Your powers are a hereditary gene from your ancestor, as magic genes do not deteriorate from generation to generation. You are a mage, and a pretty strong one at that but I am afraid that there is nothing spiritual about it, in your sense. Your family line is probably one of a very few, if not the only one on earth that has a magic gene that is passed down hereditarily."

Miranda listened as they explained the rest of the story about the Saren Stones and their experiences since, to give her the full picture. They even showed her some of the videos that had been recorded of their battles. It took a good couple of hours to the point where it was almost 6 at night. When they were done, John stood up and said, " Okay, that sums it all up for the short version." Everyone laughed, including Miranda. "Now I think it would be fair to give you a day to think it over, but before you go home, would you like to join us for dinner, were all eating at my house." She paused for a second, and then said, "That would be good, I am starving."

They all got up, sore from sitting for a while like when you get up from watching a movie at a movie theater. They stretched out a bit, and then they all walked to the in complex elevator. Then they went to the ground level and walked over to the main elevator. After everyone was inside, John pressed his hand on the panel in front of him and the elevator started moving. But as Miranda noticed, instead of going up, it zoomed backwards, and then left and a bunch of different directions too, then it shot up like a bullet. Then after about two minutes, it finally stopped and the door opened.

"Were here," said John, stepping out into his own basement. They all got out of the elevator, Miranda was a little dazed from the elevator as she got out. "Whoa," she said, trying to balance herself out. She then followed them all upstairs and surprisingly found herself in Lee's kitchen. "How did we get here?" she asked. Haruno answered, "Lee's Dad is a Very high standing officer in the TSAB so he had a direct link to his house made for easy access." "Whoa, so that makes you an important person then," Miranda said to John, who replied, "Yes it does and though I am grateful for the position, I wish I could of gotten it under friendlier circumstances but when you're a mage, that's the type of risks you take." He then faded out as Lee's mother came into the room. "Dinner's ready," then she saw Miranda and said, "And there is enough for everyone." Miranda was trying to walk out quietly as she felt intrusive but found that she backed up into Mary as she walked over to keep her from leaving.

They all sat down and started to eat from the wide spread. Over dinner, Miranda was very quiet. She was still thinking about everything she had just earned not only about magic, but also about herself and her families history. When dinner was done, Haruno got up and made a loud yawn and as she did, she transformed into her marble state and Lee caught her. John then said, "I think it's about time you guys start heading home. It's getting late and even though you aren't going to school tomorrow, your parents would still worry." Tomorrow was a special holiday in Tokyo where a festival was held at the grand Tokyo shrine on Senkaito Hill. School was not held that day so everyone could attend. Chrono and Sakura nodded and disappeared on spot, teleporting to their respective houses/mansions. This surprised Miranda, who wasn't used to seeing other people teleporting as if it was casual. She was about to teleport when Lance, who was staying behind to do some research at the base said, "Now remember, you can do it. You may have had trouble the first time but you got over that, don't let it mess with your concentration." Lee saw what was going on and said, "I'll go with her, just in case." She put a hand on Miranda's shoulder, which made her jump a bit out of surprise. She then focused in and they disappeared.

When Lee opened his eyes again, they were in the middle of a small clearing that seemed to be on a hill overlooking Tokyo. "Looks like you were a little off target but not a bad location to wind up. You can see the whole city, it's actually a nice view." "Sorry," said Miranda. "No sweat, how about I do the teleporting today and you can practice some more tomorrow." She put her hand on his shoulder and was a little red from embarrassment; both from the failure and the way Lee had taken it, so casually. Lee teleported them and they appeared in front of Miranda's families shrine entrance. "Were here," he said and Miranda let go. "Thanks," she said and then waved good-bye as Lee teleported home.

Miranda went inside and lay down on her bed. She was so exhausted not only from the battle earlier but mentally exhausted from everything she had just learned. She was still thinking it over, about her magic as she now knew it was called and the offer made to her. Then she remembered Lee randomly and without expecting it. Then out of nowhere she made up her mind. "Okay, I'll do it, I'll fight."


	37. Where it Starts

The Haruno Chronicles

Ch. 37 Yay! We finally get to learn about Maral. I bet most of you have been wanting to know what it is like since chapter one. Well here we are. Ancient ruins, Parts shops, Breakfast restaurants its all here. We also get to meet Nanoha's mom and learn part of the secret of why she is so strong. Also John and Lee get some upgrades as well.

Disclaimer: Everything, material, characters, locations ect… are property of the respective people.

Chapter 37 – Where it starts

Lee arrived back home shortly after he had dropped Miranda back home. He reappeared in the dojo and walked into the kitchen where his dad was helping to clean the table. Lance was also there waiting for John to finish so they could go look into something, though Lee didn't know what as Lance had told him it was unimportant. "Dad," said Lee as he entered. John turned around and replied, "Yeah, here and listening." "I had something I wanted to ask you but I wanted to wait until Miranda was gone." John looked curious but said, "Right after I take a look at today's footage of your battle. I haven't seen it yet and I should take a look at it before I go to sleep." "Well it's about that. During the battle, something happened." John smiled and said, "Whenever you battle Lee, something unexpected always happens. No offense but nothing about you is normal, in the good sense but shoot, what miracle do you have to share with us today."

"Well, during the battle, I was fighting a spawned mage from three jewel seeds consecutively. It was a strong opponent and during the battle, I was refraining from using combination attacks because there were non-combatants that would have been hurt if I did so I used my breaker instead and it crossed with his breaker. His was significantly stronger and I felt like I was at my limit when Haruno told me there was a way, but it was risky because it was to remove all the safeties and supports from my staff to channel untainted power. But there was also the chance that I would die or lose power but I did it anyway and that is where the strange thing happens but I can't explain it. I think you'll need to see it to understand it."

Lee and his dad turned to the large TV and John put in a DVD of the battle footage. John was trying to think about what happened to Lee and couldn't come up with anything more unusual than what Lee normally did so he paid close attention to the video as it played. When it got to the breaker's colliding, John was glued to the TV in anticipation. Then he saw it, though he didn't believe it as Lee transformed into the gold clothes. "KOUKI KYOURAN," John whispered to himself. "KOUKI what?" said Lee, interested. "KOUKI KYOURAN, the highest state of magic being a mage can achieve." "I don't follow, could you explain?" asked Lee, confused. "You won't get it without the full explanation. Where to start now, from the basics I guess. You're about to get a lesson in what mages call the REKKOKU. They are the different "states" a mage can enter to gain abilities and or power. There are the basics like the speed state or the power state that any mage can use which give's them temporary boosts in that stat. Then the next level is ability states. These either requires something in return or is something that you must be born with and not just anyone can do. These grant the user special abilities that would be otherwise out of their reach. Then the next level is hereditary states or states that travel down a line of decedents. These can be anything from a unique power to an insane increase in magic or even something you're born with like an unusual amount of magic or an aptitude for a specific state like speed or agility. These states are usually constant or uncontrollable. Then the highest official level states are the abilities of ZEN, KOU, CHU and TEI. These states govern 4 different abilities. ZEN is the ability to completely negate magic, KOU is the ability to do Combination attacks like you do; CHU is the ability create new dimensions and finally TEI, the ability to control all basic elements at will. But there is a rumor about a higher level, though I never believed it called KOUKI KYOURAN or Final Form. This state supposedly is unique to each individual and maxes out all his or her stats, then takes their most powerful stat and increases it past the point of what is referred to by researchers as the Limit, which is the peak of how much power any one mage can use at a single time. But I heard that there were three things that made it special. One was that to activate it, a certain condition had to be me; second it could not be used for an extensive battle as it had a side effect of draining the energy out of a mage to sustain the flow of power and third and most importantly, while in this state, the user is able to control the four governing states at will or is too say, is able to enter those states and use their benefits. For example, if any one mage were to enter this state, they too would be able to do combination attacks like you plus the other three. That's all I know though." John finished his explanation.

Lee sat there, thinking about it for a while. Then John jumped in and said, "But this is only speculation, we can't confirm it until we see you do it again and we don't even know if this is more than a rumor so don't get your hopes up." They talked about it for a while. Then Lee went up to his bedroom, still thinking about the discussion. John told him more about the magical states. He even told Lee that Lance probably was able to use CHU or the power to alter dimensions which was probably a prerequisite for using the **HEAVENS DIVIDE** spell he used to contain Lee's attack once, which would explain why he hadn't found anyone besides himself who could use it yet. Each of the four abilities was very rare and only certain people could do them. You had to be born with the ability to use is and who got them was completely random. Each one had a very small percentage of people who had the abilities. The only thing all these people had in common though was that each had a huge amount of magic to use.

When Lee got ready for bed, he lay down on his bed and decided he needed someone else's opinion. He concentrated and telepathically called Lance who was currently doing some research at the base. "_You their Lance,_" said Lee. "_Yeah, you need something?"_ "_Just an opinion."_ Lee went over the conversation with Lance telepathically and afterward, Lance said, "_Well, normally I rule out the impossible but that doesn't seem to work when you're involved. You seem to defy all magical logic. But I will say, I never thought of my __**HEAVENS DIVIDE **__like that. I think your dad's on to something there with CHU being a factor. To be honest, until your dad's ship analyzed it, I never knew it created it's own dimension. I think I'll look into that. Anyway, have to get back to my research. Lets talk about it with everyone tomorrow."_

Suddenly, Lance's voice faded and Lee knew he had broken the connection. Lee went to sleep thinking about the battle he had had earlier that day. So many things had been swirling around in his mind since the battle. One of them was what was going to happen next. He had a weird dream that night about being sucked into a hole to find himself a few months in the past around where he discovered his magic and his dad was telling him that he had to go and collect the stones all over again.

The next morning, Haruno did not wake him up. Due to the exhaustion from the battle the night before, his dad thought it a good idea to let him rest for the day. Also, John had something he wanted Lee to do as well. When Lee woke up, he looked at the clock, which read 11 in the morning. At first he thought he was going to be late for school but then Haruno's projection which Lee and the others had decided to call sprite Haruno appeared over him and said, "Don't worry, your dad said your not going to school today." She disappeared and Lee finally got out of bed. He got dressed and then went downstairs where Haruno and Mary were making some breakfast. John was sitting on the couch looking over some paperwork.

They ate breakfast and afterwards, John called him to the living room where he was still going over some papers. "Ah Lee, how you feeling this morning?" "Good." John the picked up a piece of paper and handed it to Lee. On the top, there was a picture of Lee and of his device. "What's this?" Lee asked inquisitively. "Until now, you have been able to go to different worlds on a TSAB status but after you collected the last stone yesterday, that contract ended. That there is an all access TSAB administrative passport for dimensional travel or in other words, a multi-universal passport; it gives you the same authority on another world as you did why under the contract with the Bureau and allows you to legally go to other worlds at leisure. It's actually a lot of trouble and paperwork for me if you went to another world without that. I got one for all of you except Lance and Nanoha who obviously already have one." Lee looked at the document. Then at that moment, it was sucked into the Marble around his neck and Haruno replied, "Identification data received."

"Now you're probably wondering why I brought this up all of a sudden?" Lee listened more intently now. "Today you, me, Lance and Nanoha are going to take a trip to where the stones were originally found. We have collected them all but we need to know more. Lost Logia with multiple parts sometimes have new and possibly catastrophic effects after being brought together and sealed. We want to assess any possible threats they could pose. In order to do this, we need to go to the source so we decided to go today for that purpose." John finished, and then went back to his stack of papers. "But why take me along?" asked Lee. John smiled, "Well for one, it was a good excuse to your mother to let you stay home from school today and two, there is something else we are going to investigate that requires you actually being there. Now we are leaving in a few minutes so get ready."

Lee prepared himself and changed clothes to fit where they were headed. John had told them that the place they were going was dry and arid Bad Lands. He changed and then slipped Haruno around his neck. She then popped out in her sprite form and landed on his shoulder. "Ready to go?" John yelled. "Be right down," Lee yelled. He grabbed his canteen and went downstairs. John was waiting for him in the kitchen. They went into the basement and took the elevator to the base.

When they got there, John then lead him to the bases own teleportation room where Lance and Nanoha where waiting, both dressed strangely. Nanoha was in a brown dress and orange shirt but it looked nothing like what Lee had ever seen her wear. The patterns were not like anything Lee was used to. Lance was wearing brown pants and a light brown shirt with a bunch of pockets. Though it was different than normal, it seemed to be more normal to Lee. "What's with the clothes?" Nanoha replied, " Remember that we are both from Maral and not earth. These are the clothes we wore when we first arrived on earth." "Oh," said Lee.

They all got on the teleport pad and one of the TSAB workers started up the teleporter. He hit the switch and they all disappeared. When Lee opened his eyes next, they were in the center of what seemed to be a small town. There was a street lined with what looked like different stores and shops. They walked down the street until they came to the end where it turned into a dirt road. Lance then lead them along the road until they saw a bunch of houses. They then weaved in and out of the different streets until Lance stopped in front of one. It seemed to be a bit larger than the ones around it but it gave of the impression that someone hadn't lived there for a while. "Who lives here?" Lee asked. "I do," said Lance and he walked up. The door was locked but there was no keyhole. Instead, Lance waved his hand in front of the door and it clicked. He opened the door and they all went in. Despite the appearance of the outside of the house, which was overgrown and unkempt, the inside looked pretty good. There wasn't a coat of dust anywhere nor did it look dirty at all.  
" The environment control in the house keeps it clean at all times," Lance said as if to answer the question Lee was about to ask.

They all sat down after Lance showed them the house. It was quite nice for someone who lived alone. Lee was about to comment on this when he remembered that before Lance left it, he hadn't been alone. They sat down in the living room. "Okay so now that were here, we need to get to the ruins," said Lee. "Yes," said John, "but in order to do that, we need to know where said ruins are." "And my dad kept a map of every single ruin he ever visited in his office so if you could wait just a moment." Lance then disappeared on spot.

Lance reappeared in his dad's office. Unlike the rest of the house, it was covered in dust. Then again, the office itself was actually in a pocket dimension so it wasn't actually part of the house. Lance then stuck his hand out flat palmed and an orb of green magic appeared in it. Then in one motion, it pulsed outwards and made a flash of light. When the light died down, all the dust and buildup was gone and it looked like someone had been there just yesterday. Lance started to look around for what he was looking for. It took him a few minutes but he finally found what it was he was searching for. He picked up his fathers notebook and pocketed it. After he made a final sweep of the room for anything he could use, he teleported back to the living room.

Lance reappeared in front of everyone who at this time was sipping some tea that Nanoha had got. Nanoha seemed to become happy at making tea in Lances house for some reason. "Okay, I got what we needed," he said as he held up the small book. "Good, good. Now next stop-," "is my house," interjected Nanoha. They all turned around and looked at her. They left the house and then walked over to the house next door. Nanoha ran up and knocked on the door. A few seconds later, the door opened and a woman with long orange red hair like Nanoha's answered. When she saw Nanoha, her face lit up instantly. "What are you doing here!? You didn't say you were coming today." She then hugged Nanoha, "Good to see you too Mom," Nanoha replied." Nanoha's mother then realized that her daughter had several other people with her. Then her eye's found Lance. She then rushed out and hugged him too and said, "Oh Lance, how have you been. It's been so long." "Good, good," Lance said why being suffocated. Lee leaned over to Nanoha, "Does your mother greet everyone this way." "No, but ever since Lance's mother died, she sort of looked after him in the same way as his dad was out a lot. We spent a lot of time together because of this."

Then Nanoha's mother turned to Lee and John. Nanoha then interjected and said, "Allow me to introduce them. This is my friend Lee Cross and his father John Cross." She looked over them for a second and then said, "Well, good to meet you. Now why don't you all come in for a snack?" They all walked in and sat down in Nanoha's Living room. A minute later there was tea and cookies in front of them. Nanoha's mother then sat down next to Nanoha and then said, "So did you and Lance finish up your little mission? I have missed you so much!" she asked. "Well that is sort of why were here today. We need to find out more." "Well I hope it goes well. It does get pretty lonely here now with you gone and your father out working." Lee was listening in and then asked, "So what does your father do Nanoha?" Nanoha's mother smiled and said, "He works in the TSAB." "What a coincidence, so do I," interjected John. "Really? What part?" "I actually recently got a huge promotion. I am currently the General of the 5th section of the TSAB otherwise known as the Lost Logia department." "That's quite an achievement, especially since you still seem to have many years ahead of you. "Why thank you Miss. Takamachi. Do you know what part of the TSAB your husband is part of?" "I don't understand it that well as he never explained it clearly but he said his rank was Epsilon or something like that." John nearly froze in his seat. He almost dropped his cup too except that Lee caught it. "Something the matter Dad?" asked Lee, "What is Epsilon anyway, is it important." John turned to Lee and said, "Important, Important. For crying out loud, the Epsilon is the 5th strongest mage in the entire TSAB Special forces unit. That's the unit made up of mages who have achieved Z status. For one to achieve the title of Epsilon, they would need to an outstanding mage, even among those of the Special Unit." Lee sat back down and then looked at Nanoha. Her father was as far as he knew the fifth most powerful mage in all of existence.

"Okay," said John after about an hour, "I think we should head out." Nanoha's mom looked a little sad until John then said, "If we head out now, we should make it back in time for dinner with Nanoha's mom." Nanoha's mom then lit up and then disappeared, presumably to get supplies for the now 5-person dinner. The group then walked into the road where it was wide open and Lance said, "I can get us within about a mile of the ruins but there is an ancient spell around it that prevents teleportation so even a mile away, I still am not sure where we will end up." They all grabbed hands. Lance drew out the book he had gotten from his dad's office and looked at a small map in side of it quickly. He then closed it and put it back in his pocket and then he teleported them all.

They reappeared in the middle of a barren wasteland. There were mesas and canyons all around them. The entire area seemed to be cloaked in a brownish red. "Lets go," Lance said. Suddenly, he started hovering and flew off, the others following his example. They all noticed a difference when they started to fly. It was like something was pressing down on them. Lance then said, "The spell around this place also suppresses magic a bit so you'll feel a difference at first but you'll get used to it." They flew for about 15 minutes before Lance stopped. He was hovering over a large Mesa. "Why did we stop?" asked Lee, looking around for something. "Were here," said Lance, landing as he said it. The others soon landed too. Lance took out his father's notebook again and scanned one of the pages. Lance then walked forward and the others followed. "There's nothing here," said Nanoha, looking around. Lance continued to walk forward until he was at the face of the cliff. He then walked a few yards to the right until he found a flatter area of the rock but unnoticeable to those not looking for it. He then pressed on the rock and shot a pulse of magic into it. The others watched in amazement as a crack 50 ft high appeared from where Lance's hand was. Then the crack widened until it was just wide enough for a person to walk through comfortably.

"This way," said Lance and the other three followed. They walked down the path for a few minutes. After a few minutes though, the light had disappeared from the cave as they were out of sight from the entrance. John solved this problem by making a gold sphere of magic in his hand and then made it hover above them, showering them in light. They continued walking forward until they came across a large clearing with two crossing arches in the ceiling. Lance then glanced at the notebook again and looked at everybody. "Okay, from here on out, no magic." Everyone looked at him incredulously. "Sorry but that is what it says in the notebook. It says magic is what activates the traps." This changed everyone's minds very quickly. John knocked out his light orb. Lance then took out a lighter and headed over to the wall. There was a little indentation in the wall with some type of liquid in it. He lit a flame and set the liquid ablaze. It lit up instantly and then all the torches around the whole area went ablaze, illuminating everything. "Maral oil never extinguishes," Lance said as he started walking forward again.

They continued walking farther into the ruins. From the large room they went through a passageway at the far side of the room. Then Lance led them through a series of other halls and passages, stopping to look at his dad's notebook every so often. After about an hour, Nanoha suggested they take a break and the others agreed. They sat down and Lee took some snacks out of his backpack. "Good thinking Lee," said John, taking the candy bar. After everyone had eaten their snack, Lee put his backpack back on and they continued going through the ruins.

After about another hour of walking, Lance stopped and said, "Were almost there." He led them down a hallway and then they hit a dead end. "Well now what?" said Lee, "are we lost now?" Lance looked at his fathers notebook and replied, "no, it say's here that we are supposed to hit a dead end. I remember hitting this dead end as well. Its just this is as far as we got the last time he wrote in his notebook. The time after that was the incident so he never got the chance to write down what to do next." "Well that is a problem," said John. Getting out would be easy enough but we won't have accomplished anything." Lee didn't want all of this to be for nothing. He sat down on a rock and tried to think of something he could do.

Suddenly, the rock Lee sat on sank into the ground to create a hole. Lee jumped off at the last second. At this sight, Lance said, "Oh yeah, I remember now. You push down on the rock and it reveals the tunnel. I can't believe I forgot that. I remember my dad falling down it by accident." They all jumped down the hole into a dark tunnel. There where no torches in this tunnel. John then had a flash of inspiration and said to Lance, "This places trapped are only tripped by magic, right?" Lance nodded. John stuck his hand up and then focused. Suddenly, a gold orb of energy appeared in his hand. Lance looked horrified and looked around for any tripped traps but none activated at all. "Don't worry, it's made out of Ki so I don't think it will set anything off." "Good thinking dad," said Lee. Lee then copied his dad and made a small ball of Ki as well, illuminating himself and his immediate surroundings.

With this newfound light guiding them, they walked down the tunnel. The tunnel wasn't very wide so they walked single-file so they didn't trip each other. About five minutes later, Lance saw a speck of light hitting against a wall some 30 yards ahead of them. "I think were almost there," he said. They walked towards it. The tunnel turned where the light was. When they got to the end of the tunnel, they saw the source of the light. There was a huge statue in the middle of the room, which was holding a plane wooden staff. The top of the staff was ablaze which illuminated the rest of the room. All along the walls, there were different markings that Lee assumed was the ancient language of the people who built the ruins.

"This is it," said Lance as he walked into the middle of the room. He stopped right in front of the large statue and then walked behind it. There, he saw a very discreet box lever built into the statue. Lance pulled the lever down and a door opened in the ceiling. Then a ladder cascaded out from the opening. "Up we go," said Lee, heading up first. But then, John pulled him back. "I think you should let Lance go up first." Lee didn't understand but he jumped down anyway and let Lance go up. Lance went all the way to the top of the latter but then stopped. It looked like he was hesitating to go up into the room. But after a few seconds, what ever had made him stop wore off and he climbed into the hidden room. John followed up the latter a few minutes later, then Lee went up and finally Nanoha.

Neither Lee nor Nanoha expected what came next. John was standing a few feet behind Lance who was kneeling on the floor. In front of him was the body of a man, lying on the floor. He looked stone cold and lifeless. Nanoha and Lee realized who it was at the same time. Nanoha suddenly started crying on Lee's shoulder. This scene remained unchanged for another few minutes. Then Lance got up and Nanoha stopped crying. "Okay, we came here to do something so lets do it. This rooms traps are weaker than the rest of the ruins so you should be able to use your devices." Lee then tapped on the blue marble around his neck. Suddenly, Haruno appeared on his shoulder in her sprite form. "Haruno, can you make a copy of everything in this room, including the walls and ceilings?" "Sure Lee, piece of cake." With that, Haruno disappeared and Lee's device started to glow. Then in it's more computer like voice, Lee's device said, "AREA SEARCH, SCANNING MODE." Lee's device continued to glow for a minute, and then it stopped and said, "LOGGING COMPLETE. FILE SAVED." Haruno then popped out on Lee's shoulder again and said, "All done, now I think I will go back to sleep. Wake me up for dinner please." "Okay Haruno," said Lee, "You did good today." Haruno disappeared again.

"Okay, lets head out," said Lance and very hastily, he headed for the ladder. "Wait," said Lee, "Are we just going to leave your fathers body here. Don't you think we should bury it or something? You know, give it a proper burial." Lance looked down and said, "But without magic, I don't see how we could get it out. That's why I had to leave it here in the first place." John and Lee looked at each other. Then Lee walked over to the body ad picked it up as if picking up a toothpick. "I don't think it will be too much of a problem for me," said Lee.

About two and a half hours later, they were outside the ruins in the middle of the desert. "I think we can teleport back to town now that we are out of the ruins," said Nanoha. They decided that it was a good idea and they teleported back to Lee's house, arriving on the front porch. Lee felt weird teleporting to a populated area without any concern if he would be spotted. They headed to the back yard first. It was a small yard. There, Lance picked up a shovel and started digging a large hole. Lee was going to do it by magic but John stopped him again. Lee understood and stopped. After it was done, he picked up his fathers body and placed it in the hole and then covered it back up. Then he moved a boulder via magic and placed it at the head of the now covered hole to mark the grave. He was about to carve words into the boulder when Lee said, "Stop!" Lance looked up. Lee made a katana appear out of nowhere with his Ki and then walked over to the boulder. To a normal person, it looked like Lee merely slashed his sword in front of the boulder a few times. But then, the boulder cracked all over and chunks of it fell off, revealing a perfectly cut tombstone. Lee then made the sword disappear and walked back. Lance didn't say anything but the expression he gave lance clearly said _thank you_. Lance's pointer finger then started to glow bright green. He moved it in front of the tombstone and as he did, writing carved it's self into it. When he was done, he backed away. It read:

_Here Lies Lance Scrya Senior  
Archeologist, father, friend.  
Born 16 November 1961  
Died 12 April 2008  
R.I.P._

The rest of them went inside but Lance stayed out in front of the grave for almost an hour. They gave him the time in respect of his father. After an hour, Lance went inside to find the rest of them conversing. "I'm hungry," he announced to the room at large. They all headed to Nanoha's house next door where her mother was setting the table. "Oh good, you're just in time." They all sat down, then Lee remembered something. "Could you set an extra spot," Lee asked. Nanoha mentally told her mother about Haruno ect. She went and set an extra spot for Haruno. Lee tapped on the marble again but this time, Haruno appeared in full. They all sat down to eat the wide spread that Nanoha's mother had made. Afterwards, Lance left saying he had to go analyze the data that Lee and Haruno had collected earlier. Then Lance left to go back to his house. He had told them he would need his father's notes to help with the deciphering. John and Lee were about to go when Nanoha suggested they stay the night. John decided this would be a good idea and asked Lee if he had a problem with it. Lee thought for a second and as going to school the next day was the only alternative, he agreed immediately. Nanoha's mother said that they could stay at her house tonight as they had two guest rooms and they agreed.

Haruno went to sleep and changed back into her normal mode a.k.a. Lee's device and Lee and John headed to bed. John had already called his wife saying that they would be staying the night. Nanoha also headed for bed. This would be the first time in many months that she would be sleeping in her own bed in her own room. She didn't tell anyone but she was looking forward to it a lot. Lance was the only one who was not going to sleep. He was still up, translating and taking notes on what they had discovered in the ruins.

The next day, Lee woke up to only find out it was still dark out, though he could see light in the distance. By the time he was dressed and walked downstairs, it was still daybreak. He walked downstairs, being extra careful not to wake up Nanoha or her mother. He walked downstairs to the 2nd guest room where his dad was to find that it was empty. Lee decided that his father was probably just out getting some early morning exercise and decided to do some of his own.

He walked out onto the dirt road and decided to see what Lance was doing before starting his daily routine. Lee walked next door to Lance's house and saw the door was open. Lee walked in and headed for the living room. When he got there, he saw his dad lying on the couch, looking at a floating screen in front of him. When he noticed Lee was in the room, he sat up and motioned for Lee to come and sit down. Lee did ad as he did, he saw that his father was watching footage of his last battle. "Why are you watching this?" asked Lee. "I've actually only been watching this part over and over again," John replied, pointing to the screen. It kept on replaying the part where Lee went all gold and beat the tar out of his opponent. "I am still trying to figure out what triggered your transformation. I've been through almost every archive on state transformation possible and I still haven't found anything that looks remotely related to this. "Okay, so what about Lance?" Lee asked. "He's been working all night, non-stop. The last time I saw him was when he came out of his dad's office to use the bathroom and that was 4 hours ago." "4 hours ago? How long have you been here?" "I actually came here right after I knew everyone else was asleep to go over this video. I find it very interesting and I am going to find out what it is. It is that fascinating to me."

They waited for about 3 more hours on Lance's couch, both of them watching and re-watching the video. They each took turns coming up with theories on what happened. Lee even suggested they watch the entire battle a few times as a clue may have been earlier in the battle but in the end, they didn't find anything. After three hours of watching the same clip, they decided to see if they could get breakfast so they walked out and went over to Nanoha's house. Unfortunately, they were still both asleep, "Like mother, like daughter," Lee said as they walked away. "How about we eat out Lee?" John suggested. "Can we?" said Lee. "Sure, being a TSAB mage, my salary is good on any administered planet as currency. My treat."

With that, they walked into town. It was around 8 in the morning but there was still people walking around normally. John pulled out Raging fury and asked it to bring up a map. "OKAY," said Raging Fury in its pre programmed computer voice. It then made a screen appear in front of John. Lee still wasn't used to using magic in plain daylight in public and it felt kind of weird. John looked over it for a second and then said, "Looks like the best place to eat is just at the end of this street."

And so they started walking down the street towards the restaurant. On their walk down the street, Lee looked around at everything taking it all in. To him, it was like being on a completely different planet, except for the fact that he _was_ on a completely different planet. He saw people appear and disappear at random and people use magic to do something as casually as throw their trash away. Lee was so entranced in it all that he didn't even realize when they had arrived. "Lee, were here." Lee looked up and saw a sign for "Mandy's Morning."

They walked in and found that it was stuffed with people. It was rush hour according to John. There was a waiting area that was also pretty full. They waited for five minutes. There were only one waiter seating people; he was tall, blond, probably around 20 and seemed to be the envy of all the girls waiting. Lee also noticed that those girls seemed to be being seated by the waiter before anyone else, regardless of when they came in. This gave Lee an idea. He told his dad he would be right back. He ran outside and to the side of the building and made sure he was out of sight. Then he took out his device and called out Haruno.

"Good morning Lee," she said. Then she looked around and saw they were at a restaurant. "I just thought you would like to eat breakfast with us, as you seem to always be making it for us. It's our treat." She smiled and they walked back in together and went to where John was waiting. "Hello Haruno," said John. Then he mentally asked Lee, "_Any particular reason for bringing out Haruno?_" "_Just watch and learn_," Lee replied. His dad had a confused expression on his face but waited all the same. Lee's idea worked almost instantaneously. When the waiter spotted Haruno, he literally ran straight over and said, "Good morning miss, sorry for the wait, we are quite busy today. Please allow me to seat you right away." He started to show her to a seat when she stopped and said, "Those two are with me too so can I have a table for three?" The waiter looked over at Lee and John. His expression dropped a little bit but he showed them to a table nonetheless. John telepathically said, "_Nice move."_ They sat down and gave the waitress their orders. When the food came, John and Lee started eating so fast that before Haruno had eaten more than a few bites of her pancakes, they were already ordering seconds. By the time they were done, Lee and John had eaten 3 orders of pancakes and the 2 eggs that came with them as well as a side order of bacon.

John paid the bill with currency that Lee didn't recognize and they left. Haruno said she was tired so she transformed back into Lee's marble like device and Lee put it around his neck. It was still only about 9 in the morning so John suggested they walk around town a bit so Lee could see what a town of mages was like. And so they walked down the street, this time slower than when they were headed for the restaurant. Lee recognized some shops like a grocery store, a general store and a pet shop and even a clinic but then there were some shops that caught his interest that he didn't recognize at all. "That one over their Lee is what is called a Point shop. They offer teleportation services for dimensional travel. You see, though any mage can do a long range teleport, they are tricky if you don't know where to go so that is where this shop comes in." Then Lee saw a shop with the label, "M-Y." "That one there is a one of a kind chain store selling small magical goods. They range in everything from kids trinkets to battling supplies like pre filled cartages. A very useful store and they are on every single administered mage planet. They are the Bureau's main supplier in equipment as well."

They continued walking down the street when Lee saw a small shop that had a huge crowd around it. Due to the crowd, they couldn't see the sign so they decided to walk up and see what the commotion was all about. When they got up to the front, Lee saw a bizarre assortment of things. It was advertizing a bunch of parts with complicate names like "Part C32-DM5." And then Lee saw a sign next to it that said, "Re-stocked and New parts." "Ah," said John, "no wonder there is a crowd. This is a customization shop." "A what?" Lee asked. "It is for purchasing and customizing devices Lee. You see, only mages with exceptional potential can manifest a device from their magic. Most mages have to buy their devices for a place like this or build it from parts. Either way, you need parts to customize it. You see Lee, all devices are unique, and that is why they have names. Even bureau staff has custom devices that they modified themselves. It is part of a mages responsibility to create their own device and modify it until it suits them. Even mages like me who manifest their devices have modified them with different parts at one point." By the time John had finished, Lee had already gone over in his head what he could do to improve his device. He wondered what Haruno would think. John recognized the look on Lee's face as he too had had it at one time. "You want to have a look see?" John said to Lee.

They walked towards the door but to their disappointment, the door read a closed sign. Then John spotted the store hours sign. "Seems the store doesn't open for another hour." Lee's expression fell until John said, "but remember who your father is, watch and learn." John knocked on the door and a minute later, an elderly looking man came to the door. "I am sorry sir but we don't open for another hour or so." "Yes," said John in a very casual sounding voice, "but I am on a bit of a time constraint you see. I need to get to a meeting but I told my son we could stop here first." "Are you with the Bureau or something?" said the old man. "Yes," John replied. "What rank are you?" said the old man inquisitively. "I actually just recently got promoted. I am General of the 5th Section now." The old man's eyes widened and his entire expression changed drastically. "Well why didn't you say so, I would of let you in immediately otherwise. Please, won't you come in?" Lee and John followed the old man inside and he flipped on the lights. "Just one of those perks of being a general," said John.

The inside of the store was a lot bigger than what it looked like from outside. There were shelves and shelves of different parts and a few listing devices. "Sally," said the old man, "We have customers." A girl probably in her twenties came walking out of a door behind the cash register. "I thought we didn't open until ten today father?" she said. "We don't Sally, but these aren't you average customers." He walked over to her and whispered in her ear, "The man there is a General in the Bureau." At the word General, she seemed to spring to life and ran over to them. "Welcome to AL Parts. How can we help you?" "Can you show me to the intelligent device section. My son said he wanted to walk around a little." "Sure thing." Sally showed John to the device section.

Lee headed around the shop a bit. Everything fascinated him. He first headed to the shelves that displayed devices. The first one he saw was labeled, "Basic trainer. Storage type. This staff is good for the beginner. Has a power limiter preinstalled. Minimal battle offensive and defensive." Then Lee moved to the next one, "A-54 Device. Storage type. Good for the average mage, highly customizable with a dual mode capability with basic offensive and defensive capability." Lee looked for the next one. "B-76/ Battle Staff. This staff is battle heavy with a sturdier construction than a normal device. This device is available in both storage and intelligent device styles. Good for tournament play. High battle stats." Lee moved over once more to see, "Custom intelligent shell. This shell has the basic construction for you to build a custom intelligent device. Comes with core. 20 percent discount on all intelligent parts with purchase of this product and at least two other parts."

Lee walked around the store for a few minutes, then found his way to where his dad was. "Ah Lee, had a look around." Lee nodded. Then John got struck with inspiration. "Lee, I just had an idea, wait here a second." John walked over to Sally and said, "Excuse me, just a question." She turned around and waited. "Would you say that the owner is a skilled craftsman." She replied, "He is in fact considered to be one of the best craftsmen on the whole planet. Even the Bureau comes here to have their devices worked on." "Good, just what I wanted to here." He walked back over to Lee and said for him to follow. They headed over to the cash register where the owner was waiting. "Excuse me," John said. The owner turned to see John standing near the counter. "Can I help you with something?" he asked. "I am pretty sure your one of the only people who can. You see, my son's device is not what you would call normal by most standards and a few days ago, it did something strange. Could you give it a look through? You see, we don't know exactly how or what happened." "I'll give it a try."

The owner brought them into a back room where there was a bunch of technological equipment. First I'll scan it to see what type of parts it has. What type is it by the way?" John answered for Lee, "It is a Manifested intelligent device. It has never been customized before either." "A Manifested device at his age, now that's something." The owner looked surprised and happy at the same time. "A pure manifested device. I haven't looked at one like that in years." He took Lee's device and placed it on a small table in the middle of the room. Then he went back to a control panel and pressed a few buttons. Suddenly, a whole bunch of floating screens appeared out of nowhere and started flashing information. "My word," said the Owner, "its construction is unlike anything I've ever seen yet, it's almost perfect. This is beyond anything I've ever worked on but it fascinates me to no end." He then turned to Sally and said, "Sally, please apologize to everyone waiting for us to open for me but tell them we aren't opening until some time later today. This is just too good of an opportunity to pass up." Sally left to go and deliver the news to the waiting crowd.

For the next hour or so, the owner looked over the devices construction while at his suggestion, Lee and John looked around at different parts. Lee went to a section, which had different battling parts. John on the other hand has looking at construction parts for information processing. After the hour, they went back in to see if the owner was done. He wasn't. Lee watched him work. He noticed Lee watching and he said, "Kid, did you know that there is a legend about Manifested devices?" "No, I didn't," Lee, replied. "Well, it is said that Manifested devices have a life of their own." "Really," Lee said in an innocent tone. "Yeah, and there is probably some truth to that as well. For instance, Manifested devices personalities are always more intricate to those that people try to program. We craftsmen can never design one that seams to be alive as much. Another thing is that Manifested devices sometimes do things that are unexplainable and that never happen with normal devices. Most people just say these things are glitches or just that we can't mimic magic with handwork but I disagree. I believe that a device a mage manifests does have a life and should be treated as such. Your device for some reason reminds me of that."

After another hour of work and Lee and John looking at parts, the owner came out and said, "Okay, I am done." They all headed to the back room where he had all the data on screen. "Okay, here is the low down. I have scanned the device but with it's weird construction and the data I got out of it, I am not sure I did it right. The results said that it shot out at peak a 3 billion level burst of magic." John smiled and said, "Nope, that's about right. Lee here is what most people call a prodigy." The owner looked at Lee and said, "So he is a Z mage?" "And quite a good one at that," John said. The owner was surprised for a second, and then he said, "Okay, now that we know that the data is reliable, here is what I found out. It has a unique construction unlike anything I have seen and I must say it is ingenious. Now as for what happened a few days ago, I think I know what happened up to a point. I am guessing that your some was in a battle of someone with near equal power. Is that correct?" "Yes," said Lee. "Okay, so anyway, somewhere in the middle of the battle, there was a magical collision where each combatant fired a peak blast or a blast of magic that was as powerful as possible. At that point, any and all safety measures implemented in Lee's device to limit power disengaged, making this staff at the time nothing more than a focus for Lee's magic. Lee therefore must have done all of the staffs normal functions manually and that includes magical compression and output and with him doing those things, the max output or peak increased exponentially and it did something weird. Unfortunately, after that, it seams something happened to something in the staff and I can't get any data past that point."

John was thinking for a second. Then said, "I want you to look at this." He then tapped his device and one of the screens over the control panel changed and Lee's battle footage started playing. It had been sped up so it only took about 8 minutes to play but the owner got the gist of it. "That would explain everything. And when Lee transformed, the device must have reconfigured which would explain the absence of data. This mystery would be so much easier though if I could talk to devices though. I could just ask it what happened." Lee looked at John for a second, who nodded and Lee said, "Would that really help?" The owner replied, "Sure, but why-." Lee took his device off the table and tapped on it. Suddenly, Haruno appeared, puzzled as to where they were. The owner jumped back in shock, "How the, what the." John went over to him and explained it to him. When he calmed down, his shock turned to interest. "Amazing, an actual living, breathing device." He looked at Haruno for a second and said, "Well, maybe you can help me then, seeing it is you we are investigating." "Okay," she said. "Do you know how or why all the safety measures in you as a device disengaged at that point?" Haruno thought and said, "Because I disengaged them. Lee needed more power and I just told him how, then I released the safeties on the staff and Lee did the rest. When I released the safeties though, I went dormant." "I see. Now I think I know what happened. Lee must of broken the limit line of his power somehow and went into the Final Form." "But I thought that the final form was just a myth?" said John. "No, it's not. The final form exists. This is the second time I have seen it though. My grandfather was the previous ALPHA in the TSAB and once, he showed me the Final Form. I never thought I would see it again."

"WAIT, your grandpa was the Gold Flame. _THE _Golden Flame," John said in exasperation. "Yes, though I try to keep it a secret for the most part. I changed my name and everything." "But why keep that a secret." The owner looked down and said, "Because, I was never seen by others." His voice started to match his age when he said, "During my childhood, I was considered to be a prodigy of magic. Not as much as Lee obviously but everyone had high expectations. They always said, "You're just like your grandpa" or "Here comes the next Gold Flame." It was like they thought I was my grandpa or something. It drove me crazy. So, one day when my parents told me I was going to go to TSAB training academy and enter the TSAB, I couldn't take it anymore. I ran away from home, changed my name and headed out, teleporting from world to world, looking for work. Eventually, I met a kind man and he felt sympathy for me. He took me in and taught me his trade, Device crafting. He treated me like a son that he never had and when he died, he left me everything he owned, including this store. I've been here ever since, got married and had a daughter and I am happy with my Life. No one expects more of me than I can do and I found that my job makes many people happy. I have no regrets about my decision except that I never saw my parents again. Though they did ahead to my wish I left them in a letter and didn't waste their lives chasing after me. I only visited their graves once." He became quiet as the room.

There was silence for a few minutes. Then the owner said, "Now, as for the device, the design is flawless but the parts aren't. The parts in here are much too weak for your power level now. To be honest, they are probably limiting you exponentially, another reason why you may have been able to achieve the final form once they were all disengaged. I can replace them with something more suited to your level. I have a special set of parts my grandfather had given me specially made for him to go final form. I think you should have them. Especially since I don't think I will find anyone else who could use them." Lee waited for a second, then looked at Haruno who nodded and then so did Lee."

Haruno transformed back into a marble and Lee handed it to the Owner who said that he would have it ready in half an hour. Lee and John went outside to the normal part of the store and looked at parts. John had explained how certain parts were used and the ones Lee fond the most interesting were the mod parts. They could change certain aspects of something and alter it depending on how they were used. Lee looked around and one caught his eye. It was labeled, "Magic path, Basic part for creating magic flow." Lee's attention to a part next to it labeled "FLIP-879. Add a physical appearance to one part." Lee's head expanded with a brilliant idea. He took one of each and ran into the room where the Owner was working. "Excuse me, I was just wondering…"

Lee and John were waiting for 40 minutes when the owner came out. "Done. Sorry it took so long. I had a bit of trouble with the unique part construction of Lee's device but I got it to work in the end. He then went over and told Lee, "It's exactly as you ordered." Lee thanked him and took his device. John then asked if he could install one part for strengthening the handle which he felt was a bit weak and the owner said he would." The owner wasn't gone for even a minute when he came back with John's device. Yours was much easier t figure out. John went to take out his wallet when the Owner put up his hand. "This one's on me. I don't know why but something about this entire thing has given me a good feeling." John was about to protest when he decided against it. "Okay, but I'll owe you one." Lee said thank you again and they left the shop.


	38. Prepare

The Haruno Chronicles

Ch. 38 Group upgrades, translations, tea and cookies; a fun chapter while waiting for the results of what happened at the ruins plus a good chance to see what everyone's new customizations are.

Disclaimer: Everything, material, characters, locations ect… are property of the respective people.

Chapter 38 – Prepare

It was around noon when Lee and John got back from their little expedition. They went to Nanoha's house first. When they entered, they saw Nanoha's mother cleaning the living room. "Welcome back; please try to be quiet, Nanoha's still sleeping. I didn't want to wake her up." Lee and John looked at each other for a second both thinking the same thing, and then they both decided to go over to Lance's house.

When they entered the house, they didn't see any signs that Lance had even left his dad's office. "I wonder if he realizes how much suspense he is putting us through," said Lee. "Well Lee, since today was technically your last school day for the week, why don't we just resolve to stay here until Lance has an answer." Lee thought about it for a second, and then agreed. "But would it be okay to invite everyone else?" "Good idea, you can bring them to Al Parts for some customization." "Cool, I can try out one of my customizations." "Huh?" said John. "I asked the owner to add a few new features. One of them was a part that allows dimensional teleportation without them long dimensional address." "Nice idea, maybe I should get one. Very useful add-on." "Okay, I'll get them when school ends," Lee said happily. "No need to wait. They are already out of school." Lee looked confused, "What are you talking about, it's only lunchtime." John laughed and then said, "You probably didn't notice since we were inside an underground ruin for almost six hours but we teleported here at 1 pm our time but arrived here 9 am Maral time. So in other words, we are four hours behind Earths time so there, it's about 4 o'clock. Why don't you send them a telepathic invite and meet them. I'll take care of their parents. Don't forget to invite your sister why you're at it." Then John had another idea, "Why don't you go and pick up Sora as well, he was already planning on visiting us for the long weekend." "Cool idea. I leave right now. Tell Nanoha when she wakes." Lee stepped outside into the back yard, and then focused. His device began to glow for a second, and then Lee disappeared.

Lee reappeared in mid air. It took him a second to catch himself. Lee looked down to see a set of fairly large set of buildings. "Yes it worked," Lee thought to himself. Lee drifted down just far enough to be able to see. "Okay," said Lee. He focused again and his device did a semi release. His sword appeared in front of him. "Time for another test." Lee focused on his device in its sword form. It suddenly changed into normal mode though it was still in its semi-release state. "Okay, the semi release switch part works like a charm. Now, **AREA SEARCH."** He held out his staff and a large gold magical circle appeared under him. Lee searched the entire of the university until he found who he was looking for. "Okay, off I go."

Sitting at a desk in a small dorm room was Sora. His nice but noisy and distracting room mate was out visiting family on the long weekend so Sora was taking advantage of the quiet to do some homework before he left to also visit his family. Suddenly, his quiet was interrupted when he saw a flash of light behind him. Lee appeared in front of his brother. Sora jumped back in surprise but got over it a second later. Then he said, "Oh, hi Lee. Do you have any reason for dropping in on me? I would have been home tonight anyway?" Lee then said, "Oh, were not going home, though it is a pit stop." Without a second thought, Lee grabbed Sora's arm teleported them both.

They appeared in the Dojo at their house. Lee walked into the kitchen where his mother was cleaning. "Oh hi Lee, your dad called saying you were stopping. I already packed you, Sarah and Sora a suitcase. Oh and Lee, I put all your missed Homework that your friends brought over for you in your suitcase so you wouldn't be bored." "Uh thanks I guess. See ya." Lee then tapped on their suitcases and they disappeared. Then Lee's device said, "Items stored." "Good, the storage feature works as well." Lee then grabbed Sora's arm and teleported them again. This time, they appeared in the sky above Lee's high school.

Everyone had gotten the same message in their minds, "_Meet me on the rooftop at 4."_ It was 4:15 and Sarah was getting impatient. "Are we sure that this wasn't a fluke or it was just our imaginations?" The other two were also getting impatient. Suddenly, Lee and Sora appeared in the middle of them all. "Hello," said Lee. They were all quiet for a second, then Sarah said, "Where have you been, Dad didn't leave Mom or me any information about where you where." Then Chrono walked over and said, "Man, you look like you've been on vacation or something for someone who supposedly is sick." Then Sakura said, "I was wondering where you were. You could have sent us an email or some form of communication at least. It was like you vanished off the face of the planet or something?" "Well Sakura as usual is right on the money. This is my first time on Earth in a few days." "Huh?" everyone said together. "And is that the only reason why you have brought us together?" said Sora. "No, actually I came to bring you all to where I have been. Everything's been taken care of. Now If Sakura could transform for us and make a portal." "Okay," said Sakura. She lifted her wrist where Cerenity (her device) was placed and then she transformed. She reappeared in her pink dress with white frills and matching blazer. "Okay, now can you make a portal please?" "Sure, but where too?" Lee smiled, "Don't worry, I'll take care of the destination" Sakura didn't understand but she pointed her staff up. Suddenly, A vertical red circle appeared behind her. But the center of it looked like an endless red vortex. "Okay, now for my part," said Lee. He half released his staff again and tapped it to the edge of the portal and thought about his destination. Suddenly, Gold got mixed in with the red and the vortex stabilized a bit and became still. "Okay, were good to go. After you," Lee said as they walked through the portal.

They reappeared in Lance's backyard. "Welcome to Maral," Lee said, "Home of the Saren Stones as well as two of our good friends." "So you've been here for the last few days?" said Chrono. "Yes." Lee led them out to the front and next door to Nanoha's house. They entered to find John and Nanoha in an intense game of go fish. "Ah, hello Lee. I see that you were able to get everyone." Nanoha then suddenly jumped off the couch and ran over to them all. "Hello," she said. "Ah, Nanoha, glad to see that you. For some reason, my parents thought you left early to see your actual family. I guess that was your doing." "Yes, it was but I didn't need to lie, this is my house. "Oh, I should have guessed that by how casually we came in here." Suddenly, Nanoha's mother came into the room, "Hello, you must be Nanoha's friends I've heard so much about. I am Nanoha's Mother. Thank you for being such good friends with Nanoha." "No problem," said Sarah.

"Okay," said Sora, "is anyone going to explain what you all have been doing here for the last few days? And where is Lance why I'm at it?" "One in the same," said John, "We came here to see what needed to be done after we got all the Saren stones. To do this, we went to the ruins where Lee and his dad originally found them. Ever since we got back, Lance has been working non-stop in his dad's office working on deciphering the stuff we found. And I can't tell when he will be done because his dad's office is in some unknown location where he teleported to. So we have been waiting here since yesterday. Lee and I went and explored the town this morning and had some fun. That's pretty much it." Chrono walked over to Lee and said, "So you really were off having a vacation adventure leaving the rest of us in school to rot in the classroom. Lee you lucky son of a-," "My dad told me to come so I did. But were all here now. How about some lunch." Everyone looked surprised at this. Sakura then said, "Uh Lee, you do know that it's four in the afternoon, right." Lee laughed, "Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that there is a four hour difference between here and earth so its somewhere around noon here." "Oh, I see," said Sakura. "So what did you bring us her for." "A few reasons. One was I wanted you to all know the news as soon as we have it, another is it's good experience for inter-world travel and three, I knew you all must have been curious as to what we were doing here in the first place."

"Okay, I get that, but what are we going to do until then?" said Sarah. "Lee can show you around town. There is actually one shop that you should go to at least. It's another reason for me bringing you here." "Okay, that sounds fun," said Chrono. John then threw a card at Lee, which he caught. "That there is sort of like a credit card. There should be enough for you guys to have a good time." "Okay, thanks dad," said Lee.

They all headed out except for John who said that he wanted to stay in case Lance came out. They were talking on their way into town. Lee showed them all around town. They stopped at a café and ate a snack. Then Lee brought them to Al Parts. "Too bad, it looks like it's closed," said Sora. "Don't worry," said Lee. He knocked on the door and waited a second. Then a young woman came to the door. "Sorry, we're closed to-" She stopped when she saw Lee and said, "Oh, hello Lee." She then called to her father who came and saw Lee. "Ah hello my new young friend." "Hello sir, I was wondering if you could help my friends out." "See no reason why we can't. I'd be glad too. Please come this way." They headed into the store. "Okay, can I see each of your devices please?" They were all hesitant at first but then Lee nodded and they all handed him their devices. Okay, Please follow me." They headed into the back room and the owner placed their devices each on a different small pedestal in the center of the room. "What is he doing Lee?" Asked Sakura. "He is scanning your devices. This shop is for tuning and modifying devices. I had him take a look and tune mine for me and it's working better than ever." "I see. So this will make them work better?" "Yes."

The owner then turned around and said, "This is going to take about half an hour. Why don't you go and look at some parts you may want added." "Okay," said Lee and he lead them out to the main part of the store. "Okay," Lee said and he explained to them about the different types of parts and how they worked. After that, they split up to go and look at the different parts. Each of them found a few parts that they liked and brought them back to the owner. "Oh good. I just did a tune up of all of them and replaced a few parts that were either in bad condition or no longer seemed to get the job done." He then took the parts from each of them and told them he would be done in a few minutes. They waited at the counter. A few minutes later, the owner came and gave them back their devices. "All done and good to go. Now something I forgot to mention to Lee. The next time you fully release your devices, it will take about a minute for their systems to fully reboot with the new parts installed so keep that in mind."

They left the shop and headed back. "How about we try them out later." When they got back, they went to Lances house. They waited there for half an hour, talking and chatting. Then John walked into the room. "Has he come out yet?" Asked John. "No, he has-," suddenly, a green light filled the room and Lance appeared. He looked like he hadn't rested in days. He took a step towards them but then collapsed onto the floor. "Lance!" said Nanoha running over to see if he was okay. "Poor guy, he probably has been working this whole time non-stop. We should let him rest for now. The answer can wait. Sora and Lee then picked Lance up and brought him to the couch and put him down. John found a blanket and a pillow as well.

Lance did not wake up until the next day. He got up not realizing where he was. The last thing he remembered was finishing the deciphering and then he blanked. He then saw that there was a blanket and pillow where he was sleeping. He didn't remember any of that as well. He went around the house to see that it was empty. He went next door to find that they were all eating breakfast. When he entered, it was to relieved and happy faces. "How are you feeling Lance," said John. "Fine, I feel fine." "Then you should join us for breakfast then. We set you a spot." Lance walked to a chair with a set spot with eggs and toast on the plate. "Thank you," said Lance and he started eating.

When they finished, Nanoha's mother cleared the table while everyone gathered in the living room. "Okay," said Lee, "Now I think is a good time to answer that all important mystery." "Okay," said Lance. He made a cube appear in front of them all, each of the four sides facing them showing the same screen. "Here's how it breaks down. I was able to translate the writings from the ruins in two hours or so." "What! It only took you two hours to translate, then what were you doing for the other 22 hours you were in there?" "I'm getting to that. Okay, as I was saying. I translated them in no time at all but that wasn't enough. I translated the words but not the meaning." The screen started to display words.

_The 26 are the keys. They open the gateway to the hidden and unseen, back or forward to that which is lost to all. To those who seek, a trial must be conquered. Scattered the 26 to a realm unknown. The game starts and all who dare be my guest. Find and seek the 26. Only the victor may gain passage. To the stones, a sacrifice must be made before the trail can commence and once more, a sacrifice innumerable times as much as the first from the victor to gain passage. Be warned, not for the light of heart. Once started, it cannot be stopped. Be advised, the 26 are only obtainable to those of worth. That is a warning. For Lucks way we give you grace._

"So what does that all mean?" said Sarah. "This is what took me such a long time to decipher. The first part was easy enough. The 26 are the 26 Saren stones. Now the second part was tricky. I still only have a guess but if I am right, the 26 Saren stones act in unison like a portal. To where, I think that is up to the user. I think that united, the stones have the power to take any one person to ANY location of a persons choosing, including those that have already transpired or in another time." John then spat in, "Wait, time travel is impossible, even with magic. How would that be possible?" "Yeah," Lance continued, "Well this is why we call them Lost Logia. The remains of Al Hazard have been known to break the laws of magic before. Now for the next part, I think the trial is probably finding the stones after they were scattered to a realm unknown, which coincidentally happened to be earth. The part about the game starting just means that anyone who is able can try and collect the other stones first. Now for the next part, to start the competition, it states a sacrifice needs to be made." "So what was it?" asked Chrono. "From what I can tell, the toll is life. To start, it needs the power of a human life." Lance drifted of and started to look out the window at the back yard at the tombstone.

"It also states that a sacrifice must be made afterwards as well, any ideas on that one Lance," said Sakura. "I am not quite sure. It is said to be innumerable times as much as the first and the first was life so I have come to only one conclusion. The second sacrifice probably means that using the stones will create a dimensional distortion and one of great power." Everyone look at each other quietly, and then Lance continued. " The next part was not hard to decipher at all. It just states that if one starts and releases the stones, there is no way to stop until they are all captured. Now this last part was the hardest. It is the instructions on how to capture and seal the stones. It took me a while but I was able to translate it. It states that only those who are worthy, or battle the stones honestly can truly take possession of them. It also states that the stones are non-transferable or to say, we cannot simply just give them to someone. They can only be obtained through a fair battle. Now the last part I still don't know if I got it but I think Luck is a being because they made sure to write it like a name. For what purpose I do not know though. That concludes my report." The screen vanished.

"Okay Lance, that was a fine job you did. Now for the meaning, we can throw all the stuff about the trial out. All twenty-six stones have been sealed. Now for what happens next. I think we need to gather all the stones to one side. Right now, we have all but 7 stones which reside with Fate." "So do we just go and capture her and take the stones then?" said Sakura. "Unfortunately, it's not that simple. According to this, you can't take, only win or in other words-." In other words," John interjected, "You will have to battle Fate, head on and no holding back. And most importantly, you must win.

In a far off place:

"Fate," said a cold, cruel voice, "You have been searching for almost 6 months now and you have nothing but 7 Saren Stones to show for it." The woman made a staff appear in front of her with a purple handle and a gold bat with a hole in the center on top with a purple orb in the hole. She then transformed it into a whip. She then headed over to Fate who was suspended in mid air by purple binds. "I am sorry mother," was all she could say. Presia slashed her with the whip multiple times. "Now Fate, there is one last chance. Now that all the stones have been collected, there will be a big battle and the victor will obtain all twenty-six stones along with the right to control passage. You must go and fight with all the others who have stood in your way and deal with them, PERMANENTLY." "Yes mother," said Fate, doing all she could to hold her tears in. "Good, you don't want to make your mother upset." She then whipped Fate several more times. "Okay, now leave me and you better not come back without ALL the stones and the right of passage." "Yes Mother," said Fate as she fainted from the pain.

Back at Nanoha's House:

"Okay, now that we got things covered, why don't we get back to our planet? You guys need to test out your new devices." Everyone agreed. They all went and packed their things. Nanoha said good-bye to her mother, and then they all gathered out in the road. Then Sakura transformed and using the same part that Lee had bought, made a portal without the access code and they walked through.

They reappeared inside the telebay in the Earth HQ. "Okay, it's only two in the afternoon and I promised you back to your parents at seven so I say we do a training session now. Everyone agreed and they headed for the training room. "Okay, Lady's first," said John motioning to Sarah. She entered the training room and tried to transform but she couldn't. "Hey, what gives, its not working. "Don't worry; remember what the owner told us. The first time they need to reboot with the new parts." About 30 seconds later, Sarah's white marble glowed and said, "All parts functioning, system good and ready master." "Okay, BRIGHT DESTINY, SET UP." This time, she transformed and it worked. But when she reappeared, she was wearing white shorts with a matching white blazer. "Good." "Okay," said John, "Now try out your customizations. "Okay, lets see, the first one." She stuck out the staff and changed it into a sword. "Lets see if this works." She focused in on her sword. The blade then started to glow bright white. "Good, it works. Can I have a target please." John pressed a button on the control panel and a large rock appeared at the other end of the room. "Okay, watch this." She swung her sword down. At first, everyone thought she had messed up or that something had gone wrong. But a second later, the rock cut itself in half. "I attached a sonic emitter to the sword so I can send shockwaves now." "Cool idea," said John. "Also," said Sarah. She stabbed her sword into the floor. Then she said, "**SONIC EMMISION."** Suddenly the sword sent out Shockwaves of magic into the floor. The floor cracked and the rock turned to dust. "Nice adaptation," said John.

"Okay, Next the young Lady," John said. Sakura entered the training hall. "Okay," she entered the room and tried activating and like she thought, it didn't work. A minute later however, CERENITY said, "ALL GOOD TO GO." "RIGHT, CERENITY SET UP." She transformed but when she reappeared, she looked different. Now she had a white miniskirt and a pink with a black rim blazer with a black undershirt. "It was getting hard to battle in the long dress. I don't know how you do it Nanoha." "It took a bit of getting used to I'll admit," replied Nanoha. "Kay, could you set up some projectiles." John pressed another button and two yellow orbs appeared in front of them, then they split into 10 shots. "Okay, shoot." John fired them all from different angles but Sakura didn't do anything. "**AUTO GUARD on**," said Cerenity. The shots tried to hit but an invisible shield blocked them. The places where it impacted turned red for a second. "NICE," said John." "And one more thing," she said, She pointed her staff out, "**DELTA SMASH**," suddenly; the shield exploded and created a created in both the floor and ceiling. "I admit that it's a little copy-cat from Nanoha except that this one goes in all directions." "It's okay, I like your variation."

"Okay, Chrono's turn now," Said John. As Sakura exited, Chrono entered. "My turn. He tried, waited a minute until his Black and grey wristwatch said, "LETS DO THIS, SYSTEM GREEN. "Cool, all right. BLACK FALCON SET UP." He transformed and reappeared in front of them. "Here's the first change." He took his staff and pounded it in from both sides and it disappeared, then both his hands glowed for a second and a black and silver gauntlet appeared on each. "I put in a quick change bypass to let me go directly to the MWD's flip mode, then I had him re-customize the gauntlet system so I got one on each hand. "Cool," said Lee. "And it doesn't stop there." He held his hands together curled. "I also admit that this is a complete copy." Suddenly, a Gold sphere appeared in his hands, "But the difference is." The ball expanded. "I make this look good," The ball was trying to burst out of Chrono's hand it was so powerful. It then turned blue like the hottest of flames, "**SHINNING BUSTER,"** He put out both of his hands, palms vertical, and the ball of blue magic shot out a blast of immense power, similar to Lee's. Lee walked in and up to Chrono, "Nice one, but you do it all wrong." Lee then went into a rant about the _correct_ way (his way) for using his buster. "By the way, how did you do that? You know, copy my attack without an incantation." "Oh, that. Well when I was looking through the parts, I came across a part labeled, "PreSync." It allows one to preload another person's spell into their device and use it without an incantation. I remembered that one of my weaknesses is my lack of ranged attacks so I decided to copy Lee's buster." "Smart idea," said Lee, "At least we know you have good tastes in spells."

"Next up we have Sora." Sora walked in. He waited the minute until Flare Storm said, "Good and Ready." "Okay, FLARE STORM, SET UP." Sora transformed and reappeared in front of them. "Okay, for the first modification." He focused on the blade. It suddenly sprang into flames. "Good, The Ignition driver works. Now for the second improvement, STORM MODE," he changed his staff into Storm mode. Suddenly, the top of the staff glowed red and the room began to boil. The thermometer showed it at 200 and rising but Sora looked fine. "The heat-wave generator is working fine as well as the element shield I installed." "Good ones," said John. "Wait I'm not done yet. I want to show you the new move I learned." He took his staff and raised it above his head. "**IGNITION START**," he said and both ends ignited. He then started to spin his staff above his head. As he did, a large flame orange magic circle appeared under him. He was spinning it faster and faster until it was making a small whirlwind. "Okay, **FLARE STORM,**" suddenly, flames appeared at the edge of the magic circle. Then they got caught in the now powerful whirlwind and created a fire tornado. It then started to expand. John changed the magical dimensions of the room to make it look like Sora was in the sky and with the space as well. The tornado they saw was actually a sphere that was growing and growing, "**FIRE!" **The Large sphere of Fire surrounding Sora exploded in a huge burst of flame covering more than a good ½ kilometer with its heated fury. John changed the room back to normal and tried to enter only to find that the door handle had been melted. He tried to push the door open to also find that it was burning to the touch. Eventually, He just blasted it away with magic, which was a stupid decision. All the heat in the room exploded out this one exit and almost scorched them all if not for Sakura's quick thinking in creating an elemental barrier around them. John finally was able too turn on the exhaust fans and the air-conditioned to cool them all off. Sora walked out of the room though as if nothing had happened. He wasn't singed or burned anywhere. "I wanted a hot new explosive attack to impress you all with. "Well I for one think that your new attack hits all those categories nicely, though it was a bit Overkill" said John.

They waited for the room to cool off again. "Okay, now for Lee's turn. When we went, He had all the major components replaced with ones that fit his level better. According to the owner, the old ones were holding him back." "Lee could already destroy the universe as it is, and that was with a bunch of crappy low level parts?!" Lee waited a minute, and then mini-Haruno popped out and said, "Everything is in working order Lee so go whenever you're ready. Oh and I hope you like my surprise." "What surprise?" said Lee. "You'll find out," said Haruno, disappearing. "Okay, HARUNO, SET UP." There was a huge blast of gold light. Then Lee reappeared but his clothes were slightly different. His shoes had pointed wings on the heel of his shoes and shoulder pads and on the back of his blazer said GOD OF FLASH. Haruno reappeared on his shoulder and said, "I thought it matched your Final form." "Thanks Haruno, I like it." Haruno smiled and disappeared. Lee then said, "I only made one battle related improvement. He changed his staff into his sword. "Well, two that are related really. Here's the first one." He quickly swung his sword and as it did, it changed into a true Japanese Katana." "N-I-C-E," said John, "I don't know why I haven't thought of that." "Thanks, but here is the real improvement." Lee then held up his sword. "**BREAK IMPACT,"** Lee swung his sword down and it created a huge crater in the ground. "I used a magic bypass part to make it so I could do spells even with my sword. I also added an auto seek part so I can teleport between dimensions without a dimensional code."

With all of them done with testing their devices, John took them home. He first dropped off Sakura and Nanoha with Lance in his ferret form, and then he dropped of Chrono at his house. Finally, with his three, John went to his own house. They had a nice dinner to welcome Sora and then they all went to sleep.


End file.
